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TOM

1646—1896.

The First Church of Christ,

(CONGREGATIONAL,)

OLD SAYBROOK, CONN.

THE CELEBRATION

— OF THE —

Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary,.

WEDNESDAY, JULY i, 1896.

HISTORICAL REVIEW

— AND —

ADDRESSES. 'Ml' ',/

MIDULETOWN, CONN. :
J. S. STEWART, PRINTER AND BOOKBINDER.
1896.

PUBUCUBR^OTI

95374

A&TOA, LENOX AND

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Page.

Church, Chapel and Parsonage (IUus.), - - - ii.

Title, ---------- iii.

Index, -- -v.

Prefatory Note, -------- vii.

Order of Exercises, ------- ix.

Address of Welcome, ------- xi.

Ministers of the Church, ------ xiii.

Deacons of the Church, ------ xiii.

History, Chesebrough, ------ i

The Third Meeting-House (Illus.), - - - - 32

Notes, ---------- 72

Salutations of First Church, PIartford — Lamson, 81

The Founders — Chapman, ------ 83

First Church of Norwich — Northrop, . - - 88

Connecticut Emigration to Ohio — Bushnell, - 97

First Church of Old Lyme — Shirley, - - - 105

Yale University — Dwight, . . - . - 109

The Church IN Centerbrook — Griswold, - - 116

The First Church of Westbrook — Bailey, - - 120
The Ministries of Rev. William Hart and Rev.

Frederick W. Hotchkiss — Sheffield, - - 125

•Greetings of an Ex-Pastor — Sexton, - - - 130

Closing Hymn — Mrs. Bradley, - - - - - 132

PREFATORY NOTE.

At the Annual Business Meeting of the Church, December
17, 1895, it was voted that the Church will observe in proper
manner the completion of its two hundred and fiftieth year of
organized existence, at some time during the coming summer.

Three committees were constituted, to have in charge the
matters connected with the observance.

I.

COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC EXERCISES AND PUBLICATION.

Rev. E. E. Bacon, Dea. O. H. Kirtland, Dea. R. C. Shepard,
Mr. G. A. Bushnell, Dea. Robert Chapman, Mrs. Lucy B.
Hayden, Mrs. Emeline Dowd, Mrs. Lydia Lord.

II.

COMMITTEE ON INVITATIONS, DECORATION AND ENTERTAIN-
MENT.

Dea. T. C. Acton, Jr., Mrs. T. C. Acton, Mr. G. W. Deni-
son, Mrs. G. W. Denison, Mr. J. B. Holman, Mrs. J. B.
Holman, Mrs. Mar>' B. Burger, Mrs. Mary W. Granniss, Mrs.
Mary E. Pratt, Messrs. Frank B. Nelson, Robert A. Chalker,
J. Morgan Lord.

III.

COMMITTEE ON FINANCE.

Mr. J. L. Hayden, Mr. W. R. Bushnell, Mr. F. T. Bradley,
Mr. D. A. Kellogg.

The exact date of the organization of this church being
jiuknown, July ist was chosen for the anniversary observance,

vin.

because of certain general considerations of advantage and of
its known approximation, meanwhile, to the precise date.
All nature conspired, earth, air and sky, to fashion the day to
ideal beauty. The church building was just from the hands
of the painters and fresco workers. The laying of new carpets
was completed only the night before. The decorations — in
white, with ferns and oak leaves— were simple, but exquisite.
The large and appreciative audiences, and the varied contri-
butions of distinguished talent, gave to the services a marked
and highly enjoyable character.

The plan of the printed program was realized completely,
save in one particular. The Rev. John E. Bushnell, of New
York— a son of this church, and lineal descendant of Dea.
Francis Bushnell, the second deacon of the church — on
account of temporary disablement, was not present. His
place was most satisfactorily supplied by the Rev. Thomas A.
Emerson, of Clinton. The pastor, Rev. Edward Everett
Bacon, presided at the exercises.

The particular relations of the several speakers to the
occasion are briefly indicated in the proper places. It may be
added, in respect to those who conducted the devotional
services of the morning, that the Rev. Frank R. Shipman, of
Andover, Mass., and the Rev. Dr. Lewellyn Pratt, of Norwich,
Conn., are respectively descendants of Lieut. Thomas Leffing-
well and Lieut. William Pratt, both among the Founders of
the church. The Rev. William H. Moore, who offered the
closing prayer of the afternoon, is an honored son of the
church of Westbrook ; and Mrs. F. T. Bradley, the writer of
the original hymn, holds a place of esteem in the membership
of to-day. The program was as follows :

IX.

1646— 1896.

THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST,

(congregational,)

OLD SA.YBROOK:, CONN.

The Celebration of the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary,

lyEDNESDAY', JULV i, iSgb.

FORENOON SERVlCES-9:45 A. M.

DOXOLOGY.

Invocation. (With the Lord's Prayer).

^Scripture Reading. - - Rev. Frank R. Shipman

Hymn — " O God, beneath thy guiding hand."

Prayer. - - - - Rev. Leweli^yn Pratt, D. D.

Address of Welcome. - Rev. Edward Everett Bacon

Hymn—" 'Tis by thy strength."

Historical Address. Rev. Amos S. Chesebrough, D. D.

The vSalutations of the First Church of Christ, Hartford.

Rev. Chas. M. Lamson, D. D.

Hymn — " Mighty God, while angels bless thee."
BENEDICTION.

RECESS for lunch.
*Psalm xliv, 1-3; xlviii, 9-14; Ixxxvii, 1-6.

X.

AFTERNOON SERVlCES-i:45 P. M.

Hymn — " Rise, O my soul."

Prayer. ----- Rev. John E. Bushneli,

Anthem — "Ye shall dwell in the land."

Address — The Founders, 1646. Rev. Edward M. Chapman

Address — The First Church of Norwich, 1660.

Rev. Chas. A. Northrop
Address — Connecticut Emigration to Ohio, and its Results.

Hon. Asa S. Bushnell, Governor of Ohio
Address— The First Church of Old Lyme, 1693. "

Rev. Arthur Shirley
Hymn — "A mighty fortress is our God."
Address — Yale University, 1702. - - - . .

Pres. Timothy Dwight, D. D.
Address — The Church in Centerbrook, 1725.

Dea. Edgar W. Griswoed
Address — The First Church of Westbrook, 1726. -

Rev. Gurdon F. Baieey
Address — The Ministries of Rev. William Hart and
Rev. Frederick W. Hotchki.ss, 1 736-1 844.

Mr. James R. Sheffieed
Letter — Greetings of an Ex-Pa.stor, 1 881-1884.

Rev. Wilson D. Sexton
Prayer. ----- Rev. William H. Moore
*Hymn. (Original). Mrs. F. T. Bradley.

*0n last page of this volume.

XI.

ADDRESS OF WELCOME.

REV. EDWARD EVERETT BACON.

Two hundred and fifty years ago, sometime during the
tsummer — the exact date is not known — this First Church of
Christ was organized and established on this soil. It was a
church organized on the ground of that broad yet specific and
explicit polity which is summarized in the words of Our Lord
to his disciples — (Matt, xxiii. : 8.) "One is your Master,
-even Christ, and all ye are brethren."

There is so much that is of interest, with which this day is
to be filled, that my part in the exercises will of necessity be
very brief. To use the familiar phrase of the day, I am only
to "<press the button."

It devolves upon me to express in behalf of this old church
— that calls you all her descendants to-day — the hearty wel-
come with which she greets children and children's children
in the ancestral home.

We are glad to see you here, and to have 3'^ou look upon
this church which has mothered you and your ancestors unto
many generations. We tru.st that as you look upon the
church, and your minds are led over the review of her history
and her work, that you will be constrained to say that she has
not lived in vain, and that she has grown old gracefully ; that
with her the leaf has not withered ; and that the " hoary head
is a crown of glory."

Xll.

In the preparatioiLS for this observance it was deemed best:
on the whole to limit the exercises to a single day. Such-
limitation of time, however, placed us under somewhat severe
restrictions in the framing of our conception of a program, and
compelled the exclusion of many things which at first thought
might seem most naturally to claim a place here.

In general, we may say that the governing idea has been to
have the Church represented in a few of the larger relations of
her life — e. g., her founding ; her immediate ecclesiastical out-
growths ; etc.*

So far as individuals or families are brought into view, it is
not as of primary intent, but rather as incidental to the
governing purpose.

I think that the general conception of the program — which
is in your hands — will thus be clear to you, and we trust that,
the day will be one ever to be remembered with delight b\7
you all.

* This idea is rather waived for the moment in the case of Gov. Bushnell'?:
address. The Governor had early signified his hope and intention to be present
at the Anniversary. It was feU that some expression from him on the occasiois
would be of peculiar interest, and in response to invitation, he was so kind as ta-
enrich the exercises with this paper.

XIU.

4
5
6

7
8

9

lO

II

12

14

MINISTERS OF THE CHURCH.

James Fitch, c.

Jeremiah Peck.

Thomas Buckingham, c.

AzARiAH Mather, c.

William Hart, c.

Frederick Wm. Hotchkiss, c. 1783

Ethax Barrows Crane, c

James Beattie.

Salmon McCall, c.

Francis N. Zabriskie, D. D., c. 1871

Richard Bowers Thurston.

Wilson Davidson Sexton, c

Bernard Paine.

Edward Everett Bacon.

Began.

Resigned.

Died.

Aged

1646

1660.

1702

80.

1660

1665.

1699

76.

1665

1709

63-

1709

1732.

^12>f

52.

1736

1784

71-

1783

1844

81.

1838

185I.

1892

80.

185I

1852.

1885

82.

1853

187I.

1889

63-

I87I

1876.

I89I

59-

1876

1881.

1895

76.

1881

1884.

1885
1894

1894

59-

Note. — The letter c following a name indicates that the person was settled
ithrough the medium of an Ecclesiastical Council.

DEACONS.

1. Thomas Adgate.

2. Francis Bushnell.
_3. William Parker.

Chosen. Resigned. Died. Aged,

1646. 1660. 1707. 85.

1648. 168I. 82.

About 1670, 1725. 81.

XIV.

Chosen

. Resigned.

Died.

Aged;

4

Nathaniel Chapman.

About 1 68 1

1726.

75-

5

Joseph Blague.

About 1725

1742.

48.

6

Andrew Lord.

About 1726

1759-

61.

7

Joshua Bushnell.

1742

1778.

83.

8

Hezekiah Whittlesey

'. 1761

1785

77-

9

Caleb Chapman.

1774

1785.

80.

lO

Samuel Kirtland.

1782

1805

73-

II

Christopher Lord.

1782

1788..

Moved

Away.

12

Travis Ayer.

1788

1812

89.

13

Robert Ely.

1 801

1822.

1829

88.

14

William Chapman.

1803

1808

49-

15

William Lord.

1808

1825

80.

i6

Samuel Lynde.

1810

1822.

1830

69.

17

Timothy Pratt.

1823

1823

75-

i8

RuFus Clark.

1823

1833-

1849

84.

19

Elisha Sill.

1824

1850.

1866

94-

20

William Chalker.

1826

1848,

1851

78.

21

William R. Clark.

1834

1875.

1879

81.

22

William Redfield.

1848

1854-

1876

69.

23

Ozias H. Kirtland.

1850

. 1889.

24

RuFus C. Shepard.

1854

25

Robert Chapman.

1875

26

Thomas C. Acton, Jr.

1890.

HISTORY

OF THE

FIRST CHURCH OF OLD SAYBROOK,

— BY —

AMOS SHEFFIELD CHESEBROUGH, D. D.*

The year of our Lord, 1646, will ever be memorable in the
annals of the English people. It marked the completed
defeat of King Charles the First in his tyrannical purpose, by
force of arms, to establish the royal prerogative upon the ruins
of their liberties. In that self-same year, Edward Hopkins
being governor of this then English Colony of Connecticut,
the Christian people inhabiting the original town of Saybrook
assembled themselves together in the " Great Hall " of the
F'ort at the " Point," and, in the phraseology of the times,
" were embodyed into Church Estate." The vine then and
there planted was not indigenous to this soil. It was an
exotic from over the sea. The immigrants who came hither
to set up their homes in this wilderness brought with them in
their hearts and characters, as the richest of their belongings,
the life-germ of the Church of Christ. All that was needed
to give to it visible form was that a fit opportunity should be
afforded for its development. And this was done when, with

*In the preparation of this History the writer owes a grateful acknowledgment
to Dr. Samuel Hart for valuable suggestions and for the loan of pertinent books
and pamphlets; and also to Miss Amelia H. Sheffield for the liberty to make
use of diaries and other manuscript papers left by her grandfather, Rev. Frederick
W. Hotchkiss. But for the inspiration which prompted to the undertaking of
this work, and for materials relating to persons, events and localities not else-
where obtainable, he is especially indebted to his wife, with whom the antiquities
of Saybrook have been a passion from childhood. The Historical .A.ddress
delivered on the occasion of the Anniversary was an abridgment of this History.

solemn prayer, the candidates for church membership, having
presented credible evidence of piety, and having been baptized
in the name of the Father and ot the Son and of the Holy
Ghost, " covenanted with God and with one another to walk
together in the ways of the Lord." The Church thus and
then organized has not grown old, but bears upon her vener-
able face the flush of a vigorous maturity. The revolutions
that have shaken the continents have settled her more firmly
upon the sure foundation ; and though the personnel of her
membership has, by the lapse of time and new social condi-
tions, been continually changing, she has retained her identity
as the same witness for Christ in this community. So that
to-day, with gladness, she receives the congratulations of her
friends on the occurrence of her two hundred and fiftieth
birthday, and renders praise to her great Head, whose " faith-
fulness is unto all generations."

The auspicious circumstances attending the founding of
this ancient Church were largely determined by the character
and measures of the men who had the early control of the
settlement. Ten and a half years of needful preparation had
elapsed subsequent to the landing of an advance party of
twenty men, which took formal possession of the locality in
the name of a company consisting of Lord Say and Sele,
Lord Brooke, and other gentlemen of distinction, who held a
grant or deed of these lands from the Earl of Warwick, who
fn turn, it is claimed, based his rights upon a grant made to
him by the " Plymouth Company " acting under a royal
charter. The landing was effected on the 24th of November,
1635, a little later in the same year in which Hartford was
settled. This advance party brought with them materials
for the erection of houses for the accommodation of those
who were to follow. Provision was made also for the imme-
diate construction of a strong military defense or fort as a
protection against the attacks of the Dutch of New Nether-
lands, on the one hand, who were planning by force to get
control of the mouth of Connecticut River, and of the ruthless
savages in the neighborhood, on the other. Not until the
destruction of the Pequot stronghold in Groton, a year and a

— 3—

half after the landing, was there any safety from attacks by
these savages outside of the palisades, twelve feet high, built
across the neck of the peninsula of the " Point."' It was only
by slow degrees, therefore, that the habitable boundaries were
•extended and the settlers sufficiently strong to render it safe
to make their homes at any great distance outside of the fort
or to warrant a permanent church organization.

I come now to the preliminar}' question : Who were the
leading men in this enterprise to whom it was given, as
pioneers, to shape the moral and spiritual destinies of the
newly forming community ? Not to make the list too long,
there are, at least, five names which call for honorable
mention.

The first is that of John Winthrop, the eldest son of the
illustrious Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony of the
same name. He was one of the strongest characters in the
early annals of New England, and at the same time one of the
most beautiful. Born in Groton, Suffolk Count>% England,
February 12, 1606; educated at Trinity College, Dublin, he
followed his father to America in 1631, and was chosen a
magistrate of Massachusetts. Soon afterwards he returned to
England, but came back in October, 1635, being then twenty-
nine years old, with a commission from the company formed
under the Warwick Patent of which I have spoken, "to begin
a plantation " and to build a fort with houses, not only for
laborers and soldiers, but " houses also for men of quality," at
the mouth of Connecticut River, and to be governor of the
settlement for one year after his arrival. The advance party,
which he sent forward, consisting of Lieutenant Gibbons,
Sergeant Willard, with some carpenters, arrived so late in the
season (November 24th) that they were able to do little more
before the winter set in, than to provide themselves with
shelters of the most primitive character. Mr. Winthrop him-
self visited the place the following April, and set things in
order under the efficient superintendence of Lion Gardiner.
This visit lasted just three months; and then having joined

— 4—

his family in Massachusetts, he filled out the remainder of his
commission by correspondence.

The letters of instruction addressed to Winthrop by mem-
bers of the company under whose commission he acted
(published in the Mass. Hist. Collections), show conclusively
that several of them contemplated removing to the new
plantation. Lord Say and Sele, Lord Brooke, Sir Arthur
Haselrig, Sir Matthew Boynton, and Mr. Henry Lawrence
gave decided intimations to that effect, and they urged that
fit accommodations be made for them in anticipation of their
coming. Belonging as they did to the extreme Puritan party,
the intolerant and arbitrary government of King Charles
threatened to make it prudent and even necessary for men of
their prominence to leave England. It is significant of their
attitude, that the first two of the gentlemen just named repre-
sented that party in the long parliament by demanding the
entire abolition of the Episcopacy. (A.)*

As it respects the character of Winthrop, Bancroft says :
" From boyhood his manners had been spotless ; and the purity
of his soul added lustre and beauty to the gifts of nature and
indu.stry." He was an accomplished scholar, distinguished as
a chemist and physician, a wise and evenly-balanced man of
affairs, and withal a devout Christian. Though his adminis-
tration here was brief, he left the impress of his noble charac-
ter upon the settlement. Some twenty years after his term of
service in Saybrook expired, he was chosen Governor of the
Colony of Connecticut, an office which he filled with honor
for eighteen years. In i66i he was sent to England to
procure ^ charter for the Colony, — a mission in which he was
successful. He died in 1676.

I next mention Winthrop's efficient lieutenant. Lion Gar-
diner. He was by profession an engineer and had spent
some years in the service of the Prince of Orange in the Low
Countries. To him was given the charge of the construction
of the fort at the mouth of the river and of the layout of the

* Capital letters encloseil in parentheses refer the reader to notes at the close
of the History.

city that was to be. For four years, with very limited
resources, he managed affairs with great wisdom. His biog-
rapher says of him, that he was " at an early age a God-
fearing Puritan ; that he emigrated to New England in the
interests of Puritanism, and justly belongs among the founders
of New England. He was singularly modest, firm in his
friendships, patient of toil, serene amidst alarms, inflexible in
faith." He arrived here in March, 1636, and remained in
control of the fort and settlement until the coming of Colonel
Fenwick four years later. He then retired to the island in
Long Island Sound which bears his name, but his good
influence survived his departure. In the latter part of 1663
he died at the age of sixty-four.

The third personage who calls for specific mention is
George Fenwick. He was a member of the company of
grantees of the so-called "Warwick Patent," under which the
settlement of Saybrook was effected, and he it was who gave
to it its name in honor of two of his associates. Lord Say and
Sele and Lord Brooke. He belonged to an ancient and hon-
orable family and he designed, as did several other members
of the company, to make America his home. After having
paid a brief visit to the new settlement in 1636, he returned
to England to arrange for his permanent removal. Three
years later, he came back with his accomplished wife. Lady
Alice Boteler, The four years for which Lieut. Gardiner had
been engaged having expired, he assumed the entire control.
In consequence of the brightening of the prospects of the
Puritan party in England, his associates abandoned their
purpose of removing hither, and he was left as the sole
representative of their proprietary interests in America. Dis-
appointed at this turn of affairs, in December, 1644, he trans-
ferred for a consideration the fort and all the territorial rights
of the company to the Colony of Connecticut ; and Saybrook,
after having been for eight years a separate jurisdiction,
became a Connecticut town. At the session of the General
Court in April, 1645, he was chosen a magistrate of the
Colony. In July he was appointed one of the Commissioners

— 6—

of the United Colonies of New England. In 1645 (not 1648,
as on her tombstone). Lady Fenwick having died, he returned
to England with two surviving children and was prominently
active in the civil strife which was then convulsing the king-
dom. He died in 1657. (B.)

As to his character and influence, Edward Johnson, the
author of the " Wonder Working Providence," calls him " a
godly and able instrument to assist in helping to uphold the
civil government of the second and third colonies here planted,
and a good encourager of the Church of Christ in Hartford."
Lady Fenwick became a member of that church, and on her
-admissfon presented her eldest child, Elizabeth, for baptism at
the hands of Rev. Thomas Hooker, the pastor. Both she
and her husband were stanch Puritans. Mr. Fenwick's monu-
ment at Berwick-on-the-Tweed bears the inscription, " A
Good Man is a Public Good." We may well believe that his
administration here, taken in connection w^ith the influence of
his lovely wife, contributed most favorably to the religious
development of the settlement.

But the little community at the fort and in the immediate
neighborhood must have a chaplain to look after its spiritual
welfare and to conduct religious worship ; for the chief
questions involved in the Puritan emigration were questions
of rehgion. Two of the men who filled this position were
well qualified for their work and deserve special notice. And
here it is in place to say that one reason why the organization
of the church was delayed for ten and a half years, was that
the exposed and strategic situation of the settlement deter-
mined it to be at first more of a military post than a planta-
tion, and hence that its first religious teachers should be
chaplains of a garrison, rather than pastors of an organized
church.

The first chaplain was John Higginson, one of the
brightest personages in the colonial history of New England.
He was the eldest child of Rev. Francis Higginson, vicar of
Claybrook Church, Leicester County, England, who, on emi-
grating to America in 1629, was ordained as the first teacher

of the first church organized in New England — that at Salem,
Mass. John, the son, became a member of this church imme-
diately on its organization, at the early age of thirteen. Hi.'?
father having died of a prevailing fever after only a year's
ministry, the magistrates and ministers of the colony rendered
him assistance in the obtaining of an education, for which he
expressed the warmest gratitude. It was probably through
the influence of Governor Winthrop that he secured the
chaplaincy at Saybrook Fort in 1636, or early in 1637, when
only twenty years old. He had not then received ordination,
but he so " suitably, seasonably and profitably " discharged
the duties of his post in the conduct of worship and other
religious services, that he drew to himself the confidence of
both Lieut. Gardiner and Col. Fenwick, and of the men of
the garrison. He is spoken of by Thomas Lechfbrd, a
London attorney who visited Saybrook Fort, as " one Master
Higgison, a young man, their chaplain." It is not true, as
has been repeatedly said, that " this church under his ministry
had its beginning." On closing his labors in Saybrook he
spent a year or more in Hartford, teaching school and com-
pleting his preparation for the ministry under Rev. Thomas
Hooker, meanwhile serving as Mr. Hooker's amanuensis.
By reason of changes, probably not more than three or four
men who belonged to the garrison during Mr. Higginson's
incumbency became members of this church at its organiza-
tion. In 1643 we find him at Guilford, standing as one of the
seven pillars of the church organized there, and serving as
the assistant and subsequently as the colleague of Rev. Henry
Whitfield, pastor of the church. He married Sarah, daughter
of Mr. Whitfield — the marriage taking place, according ta
tradition, in the old stone mansion, the well-known reHc of
antiquity still standing in Guilford, with rye bread, pork and
peas for the wedding feast. In 1659, resigning his jrastorate,
he took ship with his family for England ; but driven by
adverse winds irrto the harbor of Salem, he was induced ta
remain there, succeeding Rev. Hugh Peters as minister of the
church founded by his father some thirty years before. He
died at the age of ninety-two, univer.sally beloved and

respected. Mr. Higginson had no superiors in literary accom-
plishments among his cotemporaries, and as a minister he
won for himself the honorable title, " The Nestor of the New
England Clergy."

Subsequently to Mr. Higginson's retirement from the Say-
brook chaplaincy, Rev. Thomas Peters was secured to fill
his place. He was a clergyman of the English Church in
middle life, who had been driven from his charge in Cornwall,
England, by royalist forces for his non-conformity, and com-
pelled to flee from the country. He was a brother of Rev.
Hugh Peters, whom Mr. Higginson succeeded at Salem, but
a man of a much milder and more judicious temper. All that
we know of him indicates that he was a good minister and
that he discharged his duties with fidelity and success, though
he cannot properly be called a minister of this church. His
stay here was brief, for when early in 1646, John Winthrop
the younger was commissioned to begin a settlement at
Pequot, now New London, Mr. Peters was induced to remove
thither as his assistant — a service into which he entered with
enthusiasm and efficiency. But his plans in this regard were
cut short by a summons from his old home in Cornwall,
England, to resume the charge of his former flock and to
rejoin his family. He yielded to the summons and took leave
of America in the autumn of the same year. It deserves to
to be especially noted, that in the positions he occupied, he
ministered not only to the souls of men, but in the practice of
medicine and surgery, to their bodily healing. (C.)

We are now brought to the eventful point towards which
these preliminaries have been tending, viz. : the orgainzation of
a church in Saybrook with a settled ministry. Doubtless this
measure had been in serious contemplation for some length of
time, as the population had increased by the moving in of new
families. It was not necessary at this early period, as it was
at a later date, to obtain the sanction of the General Court for
such a movement. As all were Congregationalists, they took
action townwise in calling the minister, and in providing for
his support, and for all other ecclesiastical expenses.

— 9—

Rev. Thomas Hooker of Hartford, from his having been
the pastor of Lady Fenwick, and subsequently the instructor
of Mr. Higginson, would very likely be consulted with regard
to the contemplated measure, and it was doubtless at his sug-
gestion that Mr. James Fitch, a young man who came to
this country in 1638 and had been for several years pursuing
classical and theological studies under his tuition, was invited
to preach as a candidate for the prospective pastorate. This
" famous young gentleman," as the historian Trumbull calls
him, was of a good family, born in Boking, Essex County,
England, near Mr. Hooker's old residence, December 24,
1622, and hence was now in his twenty-fourth year. His
services proved to be satisfactory. A call to the pastoral
office was extended to him and accepted, and a day appointed
for the organization of the church and his ordination. The
exact month and day are not known, but it was probably
early in the summer of 1646; and due preparation was made
for the event according to the usage, by the observance of a
■day of fasting and prayer.

■ As there are no extant records of this important trans-
action, our imaginations, aided by tradition and the custom of
the times, must fill out the picture. The public exercises
were held in the " Great Hall " of the fort. We may reason-
ably suppose that there were present, as representatives of
neighbor churches. Rev. Thomas Hooker, and doubtless his
colleague. Rev. Samuel Stone, and possibly Elder William
Goodwin, from the church in Hartford ; also. Rev. Henry
Whitfield and his colleague, Rev. John Higginson, the former
chaplain of the fort, accompanied by a lay delegate, from the
church in Guilford. Rev. John Warham of Windsor and
Rev. John Davenport of New Haven, with lay delegates from
their respective churches, would perhaps be present. And
although there was as yet no organized church at New
London, we should expect to see among the attendants from
abroad. Rev. Thomas Peters and Mr. John Winthrop, both of
whom had been in service here.

As we cast our eyes over the congregation of Saybrook
residents present, what countenances do we recognize as

— 10 —

beaming with a deep personal interest in the exercises ? We-
see there Robert Chapman, who had been connected with the
fort and the settlement longer than any other person present,
now a man of about thirty years of age. Thomas Adgate,.
who is to be the deacon of the new church, we see there, as also
William Bushnell. We may reasonably expect to identify in
the congregation Thomas Bliss, Robert Lay, William Lord^.
Thomas Leffingwell, William Pratt and Thomas Tracy, and
others well worthy to have a place among the founders, some
of them with wives and children.* Matthew Griswold and
William Parker, if not present on this occasion, probably
joined the new organization a short time afterwards. (D.)

The exercises proceed probably after the following order :
Prayer is offered, the Scriptures are read and expounded, and
a psalm is sung, either from the Ainsworth version, a book
dear to the first generation of New England Pilgrims' and
Puritans, or else from the " Bay Psalm Book," now recently
published at Cambridge. Rev. Thomas Hooker preaches the
sermon, which, no doubt, is equal to the occasion. The
persons who are to be constituted into the Church, either by
subscribing their names, or by audible assent, confess their
faith in Christ, while they covenant with God and with one
another '* to walk together according to the rule of the
Gospel, and in all sincere conformity to its holy ordinances,
and in mutual love and respect each to other, as near as God
shall give us grace."t They then in response receive from
one or more of the visiting pastors and lay representatives of
the churches, the right hand of fellowship in token of recog-
nition.

The Church having been thus organized, Mr. Fitch presents
his views of Christian Doctrine, and gives expression to his
personal faith in Christ, and of his conviction that he is
divinely called to be a minister of the Gospel. The Church

* For further particulars with regard to the personnel and character of the
founders, see the note (D) at the close of this History, and also the address of
Rev. Edward M. Chapman on " The Founders" on a subsequent page.

t Quoted from the first covenant of the First Church of Boston.

— II —

is then called upon to signify their choice of him as their
pastor. This being answered in the affirmative by the erection
of hands, Mr. Fitch is asked if he did accept the call to the
office. Whereto, if he responds, as Rev. John Cotton did
several years before, when about to be ordained as teacher of
the First Church of Boston, he says : " However I know
myself unworthy and insufficient for this place, yet having
observed the passages of God's providence in calling me to it,
I cannot but accept it." He is then solemnly ordained to the
pastoral office in this Church according to the strict Congre-
gational method by the laying on of the hands of two desig-
nated brethren of the Church and by prayer offered by one of
the ministers. Thomas Adgate is probably set apart to the
diaconate at the same time and in a somewhat similar w^ay.
The serv'ices are closed by a song of praise. With these holy
and appropriate rites, this ancient Church was started off in
her career of the two hundred and fifty years now closing ;
and no doubt we are feeling to-day the quickening thrill of
those moments of her divine and joyous birth.

From this account, it is seen that this Church was from the
beginning a Congregational Church of the strictest type,,
without a trace of prelacy or presbyterianism, framed upon
the principles which two years later were embodied in the
Cambridge Platform, thus reflecting the views of ecclesiastical
polity entertained by the English projectors of the settlement.
In date of organization, it is probably to be ranked as the
eleventh church formed within the present boundaries of the
State. The church in W^indsor dates back to 1630, and the
First Church in Hartford to 1632 — both organized prior to
their migration hither. Next came the churches in W^ethers-
field and Stamford, founded in 1635. The churches in New
Haven, Milford, Fairfield and Stratford go back, according to
their respective claims, to 1639, that in Guilford to 1643, that
in Branford to 1644. It should be said, however, that two or
three of these dates are conjectural.

At the session of the General Court in March, 1658, twelve
years after the organization of this Church, an act was passed
prohibiting all persons " in this jurisdiction " from "embody-

— 12 —

ing themselves into church-estate without the consent of
the General Court, and approbation of the neighbouring
Churches." Although this enactment was not designed to
affect retroactively the civil relations of the churches already
established, yet, when, several years later, it was discovered
that the records of the Council organizing this Church were
missing, with the church records, a good deal of anxiety was
awakened lest this loss might prejudice the Church's legal
standing. The first supposition was that these documents,
being in the custody of the pastor, Rev. Mr. Fitch, and of
John Birchard, the town clerk, had been taken away with
their personal belongings on their removal, with a large pro-
portion of the church members, to Norwich in 1660. But as
no trace of the lost records was found, a petition was pre-
sented to the General Court in 1669 for a healing act to make
good the loss, on which the following action was taken, viz. :

" Whereas our beloved brethren at Saybrook embodyed themselves in Church-
Society, and this Court findeing no record of their proceedings in this matter,
doe now upon their request see cause hereby to declare, that they doe approve
of their embodying themselves in Church-Society, and desire the Lord to smile
upon them, establish and bless their beginnings." [Col. Records, Octoben
1669.] (E.)

After Col. Fenwick's departure for England, during the
winter of 1645-6, at the special request of the inhabitants,
Capt. John Mason removed to Saybrook from Windsor early
in 1647. and was placed in military command of the fort. He
proved to be a valuable member of the weak an.d growing
community and an efficient helper to the young pastor. Soon
after his removal hither, the fort, which was built of wood,
took fire, and was consumed with the structures enclosed
within its area, and the adjacent buildings. Capt. Mason with
his wife and children barely escaped the flames. This calamity
not only necessitated the construction of a new fort, but, for
several months, deprived a large part of the residents of their
homes. And doubtless, according to the tradition, many of
the women and children of the settlement were dependent
upon the hospitality of friends in other places until accommo-
dations for their comfortable housing could here be provided

—13—

Tor them. A meeting-house, for which partial provision had
.probably been already made, was, with as little delay as pos-
sible, enclosed and opened for worship. Although its walls
were bare, its sittings uncomfortable, and its exterior unin-
viting, there were adequate compensations in the grateful and
.hearty enjoyment with which the worshipers entered into
the services. The building stood on the north side of the
"*' Middle Lane" at Saybrook Point, a few rods westerly of the
house occupied by Mrs. Mary B. Burger. A lot of land, ad-
joining the opposite side of the street, was laid out for a public
-square called " The Green," south of which was located the
■first or " Old Cemetery " of the settlement. The builder of
the meeting-house is believed to have been William Bushnell,
assisted by his brothers Francis and Richard, who, after a
brief stay in Guilford, settled here. In consequence of the
destruction of the fort with its buildings, work in their line
of business, that of carpentry, was then in urgent demand.
These men were held in high repute among the early inhabi-
tants, Francis was chosen deacon of the Church during Mr.
Fitch's ministry. William was more prominent in civil and
military life.

In those days, the congregation was called together by the
beat of the drum. By special enactment of the General Court
May 20, 1647, Saybrook was required to have at the meeting-
house, flanking the front door, "a gard of 8 men every
Sabboth and Lecture-day compleat in their arms," to protect
the assembly from Indian assaults. It was customary also to
station an armed sentinel upon a turret or platform built upon
the roofs of the meeting-houses to watch against surprises
from the savages. These customs furnish the basis for the
liumorous lines in John Trumbull's " Mac Fingal " :

" So once, for fear of Indian beating,
Our grandsires bore their guns to meeting, —
Each man equipped on Sunday morn
With Psalm-book, shot and powder horn ;
And looked in form, as all must grant,
Like the ancient true church miUtant."

— 14—

The minister's house was located westward from the meet-
ing-house on the same side of the street. Into this parsonage^
two years after his ordination, Mr. Fitch introduced, as his
newly married wife, Abigail, a daughter of Rev. Henry Whit-
field of Guilford and sister of the wife of Rev. John Higgin-
son, and therein six children, two sons and four daughters,
were born to him.

Mr. Fitch's ministry here proved to be a very happy and
successful one. Notwithstanding the hostile attitude of the
Dutch and the Indians, the plantation grew by the moving in
of choice families, some of them from Windsor and Hartford,
attracted in part by the popularity of the young preacher.
But after a lapse of fourteen years, a shadow fell upon this
prosperity. A large number of the residents, apparently a
majority of the men of enterprise, removed to that part of the
Mohegan territory, which was subsequently incorporated as
the town of Norwich, taking with them Mr, Fitch and Deacon
Adgate. This section of land, nine miles square, was ceded
to the proprietors — there were thirty-five of them, mostly
from Saybrook — by the Sachem Uncas and his sons, for
seventy pounds.

As to the reasons which induced this abandonment of their
recently erected dwellings and their cultivated lands in favor
of setting up their homes in an unsubdued frontier wilderness,
one tradition says that they were driven from Saybrook by
the innumerable crows and blackbirds which tore up their
newly planted corn ; another assigns the bar at the mouth of
the river, presenting as it did an insurmountable obstacle to
the commercial prosperity of the town, as the cause. But
the real motive is probably to be found in the attractions of
the beautiful and fertile lands which border the Shetucket and
Yantic rivers above the point where they unite to form the
Thames. These attractions had not escaped the keen eyes of
Capt. Mason, as he roamed over the region on his Indian i
raids. And notwithstanding the sacrifices which it would'
cost, he persistently and successfully urged the change.
What was the result to Saybrook ? It operated doubtless at
first as a more severe discouragement than that which was-

— 15—

rsufifered when the grantees of the Warwick Patent abandoned
-their purpose of joining Fenwick in America and all their
interests here were sold out to Connecticut. But there was no
lasting occasion for tears over the occurrence. The vacancies
were soon filled by new comers, and in the course of a few
years, hope and skill and industry set the town forward in a
course of healthful growth. The vitality of the mother
church, so far from being exhausted, was so replenished in her
strength as to be able, about fifty years afterwards, to give out
of her own family membership to her Norwich daughter an
eminently qualified and useful pastor, Rev. Benjamin Lord,
D. D. (F.)

The question has been raised — which of the two churches,
the Saybrook church or the emigrating Norwich church, is to
be reckoned as the older or original church, from whose
membership a new organization was made up ? If it is true,
as an old tradition asserts and as several of the historians of
Connecticut, following Trumbull, teach, that " the majority of
the church removed with Mr. Fitch to Norwich," then it
follows that the migrating body is entitled to be regarded as
the old church, and those who remained behind were the
seceding party and needed a new organization. But there is
one fact that to my mind effectually invalidates this conclu-
sion, viz. : that this Church has always dated its organization
from the year 1646; and the first church of Norwich has
never claimed any earlier date than the year 1660. In printed
addresses and on public occasions, where the relations of the
two have been spoken of, the former has been denominated
the " Mother Church."

In the light of this fact, I cannot repress the conviction
that the tradition referred to rests upon no substantial basis.
The larger part of the younger and more enterprising mem-
bers probably joined the migrating company, and Mr. Fitch,
after anxious and prayerful deliberation, decided to go with
them, for the reason that in their new wilderness home they
\\ould need him more than those would who stayed behind.
This conviction is strengthened by the consideration that the
^taxable property in Saybrook, as returned to the colonial

— 16—

authorities, largely exceeded that returned from Norwich foi~
full nineteen years after the separation. After an interval oF
ten years, i. e., in 1670, the Norwich returns amounted only
to ;^3,832, while Saybrook figured up ;^4,873. At this date,
the church at the mouth of Connecticut River had twenty-
five per cent, more financial ability than that which was-
located at the headwaters of the Thames. (Q.)

There is reason to believe that the Norwich company
effected its church organization prior to ks exodus, — that it
went up " harnessed " to its destination. This took place in
the spring of 1660, a pioneer party having been sent forward
the year before for the purpose of laying out the lots and of
putting up buildings for the accommodation of the main body
which was to follow. Thus Norwich came to be the first off-
shoot of the original Saybrook stock.

■ At the time Mr. Fitch removed to Norwich, his six childrerk,
were motherless, his wife having died in 1659. In October,

1664, five years later, he was united to Priscilla, daughter of
Captain John Mason, through whom he was enriched with-
the gift of eight additional children — seven sons and one
daughter.

As a pastor, he was in both localities zealously devoted to
his flock, and greatly beloved. His labors, during his second
pastorate, in efforts to christianize and civilize tlie Mohegan
Indians were indefatigable. He trained several young men
for the ministry. Cotton Mather characterized! him as " the
acute and holy Mr. Fitch." The high estimate in which he
was held in the colony is shown in the fact that after the
death of Rev. Samuel Stone of the Hartford Church, he was
called to fill the vacancy. His significant reply was, " With
whom shall I leave these few sheep in the wilderness ?"
Having filled out about forty years in this second pastorate,
he retired to Lebanon, which was included in " the nine miles
square" purchase of the Mohegans, to die among his children
who had settled there. The following extract from the
inscription on his tombstone, translated from the Latin, tells
the rest: " He fell asleep in Jesus, November 18, 1702, in the
80th year of his age. He was a man, for penetration of mind..

—17—

solidity of judgment, devotion to the duties of his office, and
purity of life, as well as for skill and energy in preaching,,
inferior to none."

The leading publications from his pen are, i. A Sermon on
the death of his wife's mother, Mrs. Anne Mason, in 1672;
2. An Election Sermon, in 1674; 3. Letters concerning his
labors among the Indians, in 1674; 4. A Treatise concerning
the Judgments of God upon New England, 1683 ; and a
Treatise upon the Sabbath, 1683.

It may well be anticipated that the next few years will be
years of trial to the bereaved and depleted Church. There is
no second Mr. Fitch to fill the vacant pastorate. The town
records under date of February 18, 1661, make mention of a
messenger being sent to Guilford to bring a Mr. Peck as a
supply for the pulpit, and note that in September of that year,
he was invited to serve as a stated preacher. The reference
is to Rev. Jeremiah Peck, son of Deacon William Peck of
the church in New Haven. The family came to America in
the ship Hector in company with Gov. Theophilus Eaton
and Rev. John Davenport of the New Haven Colony in 1638,
Jeremiah being at that time fifteen years old. He took a
partial course of study at Harvard College, after which he
taught school at Guilford and at New Haven, occasionally
preaching as the opportunity offered. He married Johannah,
the daughter of Robert Kitchell, one of the pioneer settlers of
Guilford. The town records give a few items in respect to
his residence here. On May 5, 1662, measures were taken
for engaging Mr. Peck to supply the pulpit for the year ensu-
ing, and paying him therefor ; and in August of that year, the
town granted him " an hundred pounds accommodation," to
start him off comfortably in his ministry. Soon afterwards,
though not settled as a pastor, he purchased a site and built
a dwelling-house, westward of the house occupied by Mr.
Fitch, which Robert Chapman had bought, and certain privi-
leges and grants of land were voted to him on condition of his
remaining five years. But a difficulty arose between him and
the congregation, which resulted in his resignation before the
five years had expired. A vexatious and protracted contro-

versy respecting his rights in the house and the lands he had
occupied, the exact nature of which is not clear, disturbed for
a while the peace of the community. It was settled, however,
when his successor entered upon this field of labor.

Let it suflfice to say with regard to the subsequent fortunes
of Mr. Peck, that in 1664 he joined a company of inhabitants
of the western part of Connecticut territory, who were so dis-
satisfied with the provision of the Charter of King Charles
which attached the New Haven Colony to Connecticut, that
they turned their backs on their homes and formed a settle-
ment at Newark, New Jersey, and afterwards at Elizabeth-
town, in which latter place he exercised his ministerial gifts.
In 1678, he retraced his steps as far as Greenwich, in this
colony, where a church was organized which he served as its
first pastor for ten years. At the conclusion of this period, in
1689, he became the first pastor of the newly gathered
church of Waterbur}^ He held this position until his death
in 1699, he being seventy-six years old.

As a result of the unsuccessful ministry of Mr. Peck in this
Church, following so closely upon the Norwich emigration,
it is nowise strange that a feeling of discouragement should
have pressed heavily upon it. But in the good providence of
God, timely relief came in the acceptable candidacy of Mr.
Thomas Buckingham for the vacant pastorate. This was in
the spring of 1665, the year subsequent to Mr. Peck's with-
drawal. Mr. Buckingham was the youngest son of Thomas
and Hannah Buckingham, who came to America in the com-
pany of Eaton and Davenport in 1638, and settled in New
Haven. The father was one of the seven pillars who began
the church in Milford, to which place the family removed,
and where, November 8, 1646, our ministerial candidate was
born. He was now in his nineteenth year, and in the full
vigor of early manhood. Though not a graduate of Harvard
College, he was scholarly in his tastes and acquirements, and,
according to the tradition, fresh from under the Hterar}' and
theological instruction of Rev. John Whiting, successor to
Mr. Hooker in the First Church of Hartford. He had exer-
cised his gifts in preaching in the Wethersfield pulpit pre-

—19—

viously to his coming to Saybrook. It was decidedly a case
•of love at first sight — not, however, a love that waned under
i:he tests of experience, but an affection which between this
Church and himself grew^ mutually stronger and more de-
voted as the forty-four years of his ministry passed away.

After he had been upon the ground about a year, an event
occurred w^hich had been for some time impending, viz. : the
setting up of separate worship on the east side of the river
consequent upon the proposed incorporation of the town of
Lyme. Originally, Saybrook embraced not only the terri-
tory covered by the present towns of Old Saybrook, West-
brook, Essex, Saybrook and Chester, but also a large part of
that which is now included in the towns of Old Lyme, Lyme,
and East Lyme, then called " East Saybrook." The proprie-
tors of lands in East Saybrook retained their residences on
this side of the riv^er, for fear of the Indians, until after
Matthew Griswold, about the year 1645, built a log house in
what is known as the " Black Hall Quarter," which probably
at first was occupied by servants and hired laborers who took
care of the cattle and the crops in the adjoining fields.*
Other proprietors soon followed suit in the erection of build-
ings, which were in the course of a few years occupied by
resident families, so that by the time that Mr. Buckingham
began his labors here, measures were taken by them for
becoming " a plantation by themselves," and the establish-
ment of separate religious services. There is extant a very
interesting document in the nature of a cordial agreement
between the inhabitants of Saybrook and East Saybrook,
•signed, February 13, 1665-6, by committees of the two
sections, explanatory of the terms on which they take their
" loving parting " from each other. On certain specified and
reasonable conditions, they mutually agree that the tax for-
merly paid by the East side for the support of the ministry

* The traditional story is that the first occupant of this log-house was a negro
man, and that the building from this fact was called " Black's Hall," a name
subsequently shortened to " Black Hall." The probability is, however, that the
name was derived from an English locality.

— 20 —

on the West side shall be abated, as soon as the former has a-
minister of its own. This proves that the old Church inter-
posed no obstacle to the separation. The grand list of Say-
brook suffered but a comparatively small reduction by the
division, being ^4,600 in 1671, while that of Lyme was
^1,663. Saybrook was at that time one of the stronger
churches in the colony.

The outcome of this movement was that in 1666 Rev.
Moses Noyes was engaged as a minister by the East Say-
brook people, a log meeting-house was put up on the brow
of " Meeting-house Hill," and Lyme was incorporated as a
separate town. Mr. Noyes had the reputation of being " a
man of great and extensive learning, an excellent Christian
and judicious divine." He labored in Lyme for twenty-seven^
years before being ordained, and the organization of a church
was delayed for nearly a generation — a delay which has been
regarded difficult to account for. Those who retained their
membership in this church must have been subjected to the
necessity of crossing the river for participation in the ordi-
nances of baptism and the Lord's Supper. It was in 1693.
that the second colony went out from this church to found
the first church of Old Lyme.

We now return to Mr. Buckingham. During the second.
year of his ministry, in 1666, he took to himself a worthy
helpmeet, Hester, a daughter of Thomas Hosmer, one of the
first settlers of Hartford, and set up his family altar in the
house on the " Middle Lane," then recently occupied by Mr.
Peck. Here nine children were born to him, seven of whom
lived to reach maturity and to hold positions of prominence
in society. Stephen was pastor of the church in Norwalk for
thirty years. Daniel, another son, was honored in his lifetime
with the confidence of his brethren of the church and of his
fellow-citizens, in the way of official trusts, and is to be named;
with respect as the ancestor of our late distinguished war
governor, William Alfred Buckingham. Several descendants
of Mr. Buckingham are at present members of this church.

In addition to the regular salary paid to Mr. Buckingham,,
which, as salaries then ranged, was probably about seventy-

— 21

five or eighty pounds annually, made up either by voluntary^
subscription or by a tax levy on the grand list, special grants^
were voted to him from time to time as his needs seemed to
require. Thus, after his marriage, it is recorded, that the
" Committee of the Oyster River Quarter grant to Mr. Buck-
ingham the use of the homake (hammock) that lyeth at the
mouth of Oyster River, while he remains in the work of the
ministry." After he had completed a probation of five years,,
he received and accepted a call to become the ordained pastor
of the church. As making provision for the ordination and for
the increasing needs of the minister, the following measures
were adopted at town meetings : " February 23, 1670, Voted^
that Mr. Buckingham have ten acres of land for a pasture on
the East side of Potopogue highway northward on the
Common." At the same meeting, " Mr. WastoU and Wm.
Pratt, Senr., did freely offer 5 pounds towards the charge of
Mr. Buckingham's ordination; Robert Chapman doth engage
to the charge above said 2 pounds, 10 shillings; Robert Bate
and Goodman Tousland doth engage 5 shillings." — " March
16, 1670, Voted, that every 100 pound estate shall yearly^
carry in to Mr. Buckingham a load of good wood ; and all
under the estate of an hundred, to cut and join in carting
according to their estate." As a further encouragement to
Mr. Buckingham in entering upon his work as an ordained^
pastor, a committee was appointed " to consider the capacity-
of the town to meet the cost of a new meeting-house." The
project, however, did not materialize till ten years later.

Judging from the custom which prevailed in making up-
ordaining councils, it may be quite certainly inferred that the
churches whose pastors and lay-delegates were called to
assist in the exercises of Mr. Buckingham's ordination were
the following in the immediate neighborhood, viz.: the
churches of Killingworth (now Clinton), Guilford, New
London, Norwich and Middletown. If an invitation was-
extended to any church beyond these boundaries, it would
doubtless be to the church in Hartford, of which Mr. Whiting
was pastor, under whose instruction Mr. Buckingham had'
pursued his studies. Doctor Trumbull, in his History o£

— 22 —

Connecticut, on the authority of manuscript testimony, asserts
that " a council of ministers and churches assisted at this
ordination," but that " the imposition of hands was performed
by the brethren, as it had been before in the ordination of
Mr. Fitch. The council considered it as an irregular pro-
ceeding, but the brethren were so tenacious of what they
esteemed their right, that it could not be prevented without
much inconvenience." This corroborates what I have said
of the Congregationalism of this church. It was of the very
strictest type. (H.)

The early years of Mr. Buckingham's ministry, and indeed
many of the later ones as well, were years of anxiety and
alarm to Connecticut, by reason of the threatened encroach-
ments upon her territory and her liberties, and of Indian
assaults upon her settlements, interfering seriously with the
prosperity of the churches. The Duke of York, by virtue of
a royal charter, laid claim to a large section of the territory
which had been granted to her by the charter of 1662.
Among other acts, he commissioned Sir Edmund Andross,
his most unscrupulous vassal, to enforce his claims to the
fort at Saybrook. This attempt seemed to have been de-
signedly made at the very time when a large contingent of
■Connecticut troops was absent in active service in the Narra-
gansett war. It was on a hot July morning (the 8th) in 1675,
when Mr. Buckingham was summoned to consult with Robert
Chapman, captain of the train band, who had charge of the
fort with only a small squad of men under his command, as
to what was best to be done. The fleet of Sir Edmund
already appeared at the mouth of the river, an(4 his design
was at once apparent. The result of the consultation was,
that a swift courier was despatched to Gov. Winthrop at
Hartford for orders and advice. And, further, tradition says,
that the parson astride his horse rallied every man within
reach to hasten armed to the fort in order to make a show of
resistance until relief should come. The women also were
'bidden to do their part in furnishing supplies of food for those
who were thus suddenly called into service, and to see that
■•the partially gathered hay crop was properly cured and

—23—

stored. By these timely measures, and the prompt response
of Gov. Winthrop to hold the fort, and by the opportune
arrival of a military force in command of Capt. Thomas Bull
and his bold and cunning strategy, the designs of Andross
were foiled and the fort saved. Had success crowned the
designs of Andross, it would doubtless have essentially
changed the subsequent history as well as the territorial
boundaries of Connecticut. It was a crisis happily passed.
Mr. Buckingham proved himself to be just the man for the
exigency ; and his letter to the Council of the Colony, written
soon afterward, giving a detailed account of the affair, shows
that he had in him the mettle of a firm and brave patriotism.
(See Col. Rec.) In July of the following year, application
was made to him by John Allyn, Secretary of the Colony^
" desiring him to goe forth with the army, in case Mr. Fitch
should fayle." Whether his services were required or not
does not appear.

Although the erection of a new and more comfortable house
of worship was in contemplation at the time of Mr. Bucking-
ham's ordination, no positive action was taken to effect this
object until 1676. Much diversity of views, and serious con-
tention prevailed, as to whether it should be built of wood or
of stone, as to its dimensions and finish, and especially as to
its location. During the controversy, Robert Bull gave to
the town for a site a piece of land five rods square from the
corner of his lot, and a vote was passed to build the meeting-
house thereon. But dissatisfaction sprang up and the vote
was rescinded. At length, however, after two and a half
years of controversy, an agreement was reached ; and it was
voted that the house should be a frame building, 60 feet by
30 feet on the foundations and 16 feet high ; "to stand near
about the place of the old one ;" and the selectmen were em-
powered to employ William Bushnell, Jr., to do the work.
The bargain with Mr. Bushnell proved to be a losing one to
him, and as a result the house was not ready for occupancy
till near the close of the year 1681. After its dedication,
" Old Goodman Kirtland, the schoolmaster, was engaged to

—24—

sweep the house for 30 shillings for the ensuing year, and Mr.
John Wastoll to beat the drum upon Sabbath and town meet-
ing days for 40 shillings."

Although this house was a great improvement upon that
-which was built thirty-four years previously on the score of
comfort and convenience, it could make no pretence to style.
<jlass was doubtless used for the windows instead of oiled
.paper. The seats in the body of the house were plain wooden
benches and were " dignified," or assigned to members of the
congregation according to age, rank, office or estate. Of this
custom Whittier speaks :

" In the goodly house of worship, where in order due and fit,
As by public vote directed, classed and ranked the people sit ;
Mistress first and goodwife after, clerkly squire before the clown.
From the brave coat, lace embroidered, to the gray frock shading down."

There were square pews on each side of the pulpit, the one
•on the right side being set apart for the minister's family.
Several of the leading men, among whom were Nathaniel
"Lynde and Nathaniel Pratt, were given permission to build
square pews against the walls of the audience room. William
Tully had " liberty to make and maintain a window against
his pew." The pulpit was a high square structure furnished
with a Geneva Bible, a Bay Psalm Book, and an hour-glass
to time the length of the service by. Deacons Francis Bush-
tiell and William Parker, and, after the death of the former,
Deacon Nathaniel Chapman, sat underneath the pulpit where
they could catch its more perpendicular droppings, while the
leader of the singing started the tune from a seat near the
middle of the house. The tything man took his position
with his fox-tail rod of office where he could best oversee the
' behavior of the congregation. In the cold season there was
no warmth except that which the worshipers brought with
them in the temperature of their bodies re-enforced by their
footstoves, save that which was generated by the fervor of
their devotions.

The closing years of Mr. Buckingham's ministry were
-^marked by two events occurring in Saybrook which deserve

—25—

special notice. One is the founding of the institution now
known as " Yale University " ; the other, the meeting of the
Synod which framed the famous " Saybrook Platform."

The settlers of New England had scarcely set up their
homes upon this soil before they began to make provision for
the education of their children. Not content with simply
establishing primary schools, they founded Harvard College
at Cambridge, within seven years of the settlement of Boston.
To the support of this institution, Connecticut, in proportion
to her population and means, bore her full share. But after
the lapse of some fifty years, the question began to be
seriously discussed, whether the time had not come for Con-
necticut to establish a Collegiate School of her own. This
idea assumed outward form at a meeting of Connecticut
pastors at Branford, in September, 1701, one of whom was
Mr. Buckingham, when each one present laid down upon the
table a gift of books, saying, " I give these books to found
-a College in this Colony." These pastors appeared as peti-
tioners at the next session of the General Assembly for a
■College Charter, which was granted them. On the nth of
November following, seven of the men who were constituted
Trustees under this charter met at Saybrook, and laid the
foundation of the noble school of learning which afterwards
was named in honor of a generous benefactor — " Yale
College," and subsequently " Yale University."

The scope of a history of this Church does not require
that I should rehearse in detail the varying fortunes of this
institution during the sixteen years that it remained here.
Let it suffice, if I specify a few points having reference to this
location and this Church and community.

It is to the honor of Nathaniel Lynde, a member of this
Church, that he gave to the College the use of a house and
lot situated just west of the cemetery, as long as it should
remain in Saybrook. The first Commencement was held
•either in this house or in the parsonage of Mr. Buckingham,
-on September 13, 1702, " at which," says President Clap, in
his Annals, " four young gentlemen, who had before been
graduated at Cambridge, and one more, who had a private

—26—

education, received the Degrees of Master of Arts." The
first person instructed here who was advanced to a Bachelor's
Degree was John Hart, afterwards pastor of the church in
East Guilford, now Madison, in this State, and father of Rev.
William Hart, one of the pastors of this Church.

The Trustees were not unanimous in the vote locating the
institution in Saybrook. New Haven wanted it, Hartford
wanted it, Wethersfield wanted it. The rector, Rev. Abra-
ham Pierson of Killingworth, now Clinton, owing to the
refusal of his church to release him from his pastoral rela-
tion, instructed the Senior Class at his own house. Some oF
the students studied elsewhere ; only one or two tutors gave
instruction here. The result was that the affairs of the
College continued in an unsettled state until October, 1716,.
when, by a decisive vote of the Trustees, it was transferred to
New Haven, that town having subscribed more generously
for its furnishings than either Saybrook or Hartford. Until
his death in 1709, Mr. Buckingham was the presiding genius
of the infant college. In the matter of its oversight much
more was due to him than to the Rector. Kindly in his
manners, dignified and scholarly, his counsels were received
with deference both by the tutors and the students. Of the
fiftv-five young men who were graduated while it remained
here, nine were natives of Saybrook, Their names and
spheres of life are as follows: Of the class of 1705, Rev.
Samuel Whittelsey, pastor of the church in Wallingford, a
distinguished preacher, and a trustee of the College ; Class
of 1707, Rev. Daniel Chapman, pastor of the church in
Green's Farms ; Samuel Lynde, judge of the New London
County Court, and of the Superior Court, deputy to the
General Assembly in twelve sessions, and a member of the
Upper House or Council ; Rev. Daniel Taylor, pastor of the
Presbyterian church in Newark-Mountain, now Orange, New
Jersey; Class of 17 14, Joseph Blague, merchant in Saybrook,
and justice of the peace, also deacon of this Church ; Rev.
Jedediah Buckingham, minister of the church in Newark-
Mountain for a few years, though not settled ; Nathaniel
Clarke, a liberal patron of the College, deputy for ten years

—27—

to the General Assembly, and justice of the peace in Say-
brook ; Rev. Benjamin Lord, D. D., pastor of the first
church in Norwich, and trustee of the college ; Rev. Joseph
Willard, pastor of the church in Sunderland, Mass., for three
years, and while under a call to the pastorate of the church
in Rutland, Mass., awaiting the day of his installation, was
killed and scalped by a party of Indians at the age of 27.

The Synod which framed the Saybrook Platform convened
here September 9, 1 708. It was called by an order of the
General Assembly of the Colony, addressed to the churches
and their ministers, " to consider and agree upon those
methods and rules for the management of ecclesiastical dis-
cipline, which by them shall be judged agreeable and con-
formable to the word of God." All the churches within the
present boundaries of the state, — and there were forty of
them, — were nominally Congregational, with the exception of
one Baptist Church in Groton, and one Episcopal Church in
Stratford, both formed the year before. These Congre-
gational Churches having been organized in newly settled
towns, and many of them isolated by reason of their distance
from one another and the roughness of the roads, had largely
lost sight of the principle of sympathetic and helpful fellow-
ship which differentiates Congregationalism from Independ-
ency. They faintly recognized any common bond of ecclesi-
astical order. Some of them, like the Saybrook church,
adhered to the strict type of the Cambridge Platform. Others
held to what was called a more " large Congregationalism " ;
while a few, mo.stly located near the New York border, were
inclined to a " moderate Presbyterianism." What they needed
was unification to remedy the confusion resulting from clash-
ing methods of procedure in cases ecclesiastical. In addition
to this, owing to the distractions occasioned by Indian wars
and the unsettled state of political affairs, there prevailed
much looseness of religious sentiment and a low tone of spirit-
uality, which it was thought might be remedied by drawing
more tightly the reins of ecclesiastical discipline.

The Synod consisted of sixteen members, twelve of them
leading ministers in the colony, and four laymen, two of the

—28—

latter being members of this church, viz. : Robert Chapman,
son of the settler, and Dea. WiUiam Parker. The venerable
James Noyes, of Stonington, and Mr. Buckingham were
chosen Moderators of the body. Besides re-affirming the
Savoy Confession of Faith and certain " Heads of Agreement"
accepted by CongregationaHsts and Presbyterians in England
in 1 69 1, there was adopted a Platform of Discipline whose
objects were: i. — The promotion of order and harmony
among the ministers and churches ; 2. — The regular intro-
duction of candidates into the ministry ; 3. — The establish-
ment of a fixed and definite board of appeal — the County
Consociation — a council by which such difficulties as the
particular churches themselves could not settle, might be ad-
justed. This Platform, which in its provisions leans quite
strongly towards Presbyterianism, has been supplanted in the
last fifty years by the more genuine Congregationalism of the
fathers of New England. Adopted as a compromise and
susceptible of a stricter or looser construction, it was at the
time accepted by most of the churches; and the result was to
bring them into closer fellowship, unify their methods and so
guard them against defections. (I.)

Mr. Buckingham's relations to the Indians in this neighbor-
hood were always pleasant, and in a remarkable degree he
commanded their respect. About two miles north of this
sanctuary is a large boulder, called " Obed's Altar," with
which a tragic legend is connected of an Indian and his
daughter who sacrificed her life out of affection for her lover.
This Indian — Obed was his name — was a devoted friend of
Mr. Buckingham, whom he always made a sharer of a choice
portion of the game taken in his hunting excursions. Atta-
wanhood, also, a son of Uncas, the noted Mohegan sachem,
had such confidence in Mr. Buckingham as to name him one
of the executors of his will and one of the guardians of his
children. He directed that his children should be taught in
an English school and that he, himself, should be buried
in Saybrook after the manner of the English. These are
pleasant testimonies to the christianizing influence of the pastor
over these untutored sons of the forest.

—29—

As to the spiritual prosperity and growth of this church
•during the peculiarly trying and critical period covered by
Mr. Buckingham's ministry, we have no authentic records to
inform us. Besides preaching twice upon the Sabbath, he
doubtless conformed to the recommendation of the General
Court in the way of regularly " catechising the children under
the age of twenty," and " keeping a lecture weekly on the
fourth day of the week." What was termed the " Half-way
Covenant," which gave to parents who had been baptized in
infancy, but were not church members, the privilege of having
their children baptized, was probably here introduced at or
near the beginning of his pastorate. This church, however,
never took kindly to this uncongregational usage, which
proved so disastrous to experimental piety, and the custom
barely survived the two succeeding ministries. (J.)

On such evidence as is at hand we are able to say that Mr.
Buckingham's memory deserves to be had in honor. He
guided the church through some most difficult passages in its
history, occasioned by political agitations and religious de-
clension, with remarkable wisdom and unremitted fidelity.
And in all other relations — as a citizen, as a trustee of the
college, as a counselor in matters pertaining to the common
welfare — his career was marked by dignity and helpfulness to
ever}^ good cause. He died April i, 1709, in the sixty -third
year of his age, after having filled out a ministry of forty-four
years. It is a matter of tradition that at his death the church
numbered forty-eight members. He was the first of seven
ministers of this church whose remains were buried in the old
cemetery at the Point. (K.)

Rev. Azariah Mather, the third ordained pastor of this
church, was the son of Rev. Samuel Mather, of Windsor,
Conn., where he was born August 29, 1685. His grandfather,
Timothy Mather, was the eldest son of Rev. Richard Mather,
of Dorchester, Mass., and the brother of Rev. Dr. Increase
Mather, president of Harvard College, and the cousin of Rev.
Dr. Cotton Mather, who is distinguished as the author of
the " Magnalia Americana." Rev. Azariah Mather's mother
was Hannah, daughter of Gov. Robert Treat, of Milford,

—30—

Conn. He graduated at the new Collegiate School at Say-
brook in the class of 1705. After graduation he probably
studied theology with his father. Having been appointed
tutor in the college in September, 1709, he entered upon his
tutorship just at the time when the Saybrook church was
looking for a successor to Mr. Buckingham, then recently
deceased. As a supply for the pulpit he proved himself
acceptable, and at a town meeting held December 2d of that
year he received a call to the pastorate. The question of
salary caused a delay of his acceptance of this call for some
four months, but it was .satisfactorily settled on the following
terms : he was to receive ^80, " in country pay," yearly, for
two years ; jCioo for the next two ; and after that ;^I20. He
finished his year's service in the college and was ordained as
pastor of the church, November 21, 17 10. In a brief histori-
cal sketch. Rev. F. W. Hotchkiss makes this note respecting
Mr. Mather's ordination on the authority of "tradition" —
" The lay elders insisted on their right to impose hands with
the ministry, and they were admitted accordingly." On the
fifth of the following month he was married to Martha,
daughter of Daniel Taylor, Esq., of this town, and set up his
family altar in the house bought of the heirs of Mr. Bucking-
ham, and formerly occupied by him.

The twenty-two years covered by the ministry of Mr,
Mather were, for the mo.st part, years of peace and prosperity
in the colony. In the town and church there were eventful
changes. In 17 16, the pending controversy in respect to the
permanent site of the college was closed by its removal to
New Haven, a decisive vote of the tru.stees having been passed
to that effect. The removal produced much commotion here,
it being regarded as a severe blow to the relative importance
and prosperity of the town.

In the course of the eight or nine following years, two other
events occurred which served seriously to affect the .size and
strength of this church. One was the incorporation of the
Second Ecclesiastical Society of Saybrook, by the General
Court, May 22, 1722, — its boundaries including the northern
part of the town, or what was known as Pautapaug Quarter.

—31—

The increasing population which had settled within these
northern limits had been obliged to travel, many of them on
foot, eight or ten miles, in order to attend religious services at
the Point. Their petition for the privileges of separate relig-
ious worship was a reasonable one. The Second Church
connected with this new society at Pautapaug Center, now
Centerbrook, was organized November i6, 1725, of which
Rev. Abraham Nott was the first pastor. He was the grand-
father of the Rev. Drs. P^liphalet Nott, President of Union
College, and Samuel Nott, pastor of the church in Franklin,
Conn. No records of the organization of the Second Church
are extant. A roughly built meeting-house hastily put up
was occupied, it is said, nearly a year before a permanent
floor was laid.

A third Ecclesiastical Society in the southwestern section of
the town was incorporated May 14, 1724, and the Westbrook
Church was organized therein, June 29, 1726, consistmg of six
male and eight female members. Rev. William Worthington
at once entered upon pastoral work among them. By the
establishment of these two new churches, the mother church
must have lost at least one-third of her membership and a like
proportion of her financial strength. The necessity of changing
the location of its house of worship was thus made strikingly
apparent. The old house, built forty-five years before, was
much dilapidated and through the extension of the area of
population into the Oyster River Quarter and towards the
Ferry, its extreme southeastern position was increasingly
unsatisfactory. Contemporaneously with the formation of the
two new ecclesiastical societies, measures were therefore taken
to erect a new meeting-house more centrally located. By the
generosity of John Pratt and his son Isaac Pratt, the triangu-
lar lot of land immediately opposite this present sanctuary
was donated to the ecclesiastical society and accepted as a
most appropriate site — lying as it did at the junction of the
highways along which from three directions the congregation
"would be obliged to travel.

In style and finish the new house was superior to the
common architecture of the times. Its dimensions were 38

—32—

The Third Meetirg-Eonse. Erected in 1726 acd taken down in 1840.

—33—

feet by 48 feet, and its cost ;^450, or about $1,600. It stood
on an east and west line with a large front door on the south
side, and doors also on the ends, to which the ascent from the
ground was by large semicircular door-steps of brown stone.
On entering the south front door, the high pulpit was seen
against the north side of the audience room, with a huge
sounding-board suspended over it, both elaborately finished
with panels and moldings. The deacons' seat was underneath
the pulpit. The sittings were square pews in which the older
and the very young members of a family could sit together,
though with this inconvenience, that some must sit sideways
and others with their backs to the pulpit. The pulpit stairs
were usually filled with small boys, the upper stair being
regarded as the place of honor, enabling the occupant to open
the pulpit door to the minister as he ascended to his seat. A
line of small girls usually occupied a low seat attached to the
front side of the pews in the body of the house which were
nearest to the pulpit.

From the southeast and southwest corners of the audience
room, stairs ascended to the wide heavy gallery — the former
to the east gallery, which was appropriated exclusively to
females, the latter to the west gallery, which was appropriated
exclusively to males. The singers occupied the front tier of
seats on the three sides of the gallery, behind which on the
south side there were four square pews regarded by many as
most desirable sittings, especially by some of the young
people of both sexes, who often used them for social purposes
not contributive to devotion, or to the edification of themselves
or of others. (L.j

At the head of each flight of stairs there was a pew set
apart to the colored people, who were not allowed to sit else-
where.

At a meeting of the Ecclesiastical Society held September
25, 1832, it was voted '' that individuals of the Society have
leave to place a stove or stoves, with suitable pipes, in the
meeting-house for the purpose of warming it on days of
public meetings, under the direction of the committee."
Thus it was that, for one hundred and eighty-six years, the

—34—

inhabitants of this parish attended public worship in a house
unwarmed by any artificial heat except that of an occasional
foot-stove.

The building, as at first completed in 1726, was without a
steeple or a bell. A steeple, the base of which projected
beyond the east end of the building and there formed a porch
or entry, was added in 1793, and a bell hung in it the follow-
ing year. Until the old sanctuary was taken down in 1840,
the ringing from the belfry seldom failed to notify the people
when the dinner hour at noon had come, and also during the
winter when it was time to go to bed, at nine in the evening.
There was something picturesquely attractive to my eyes in
that ancient structure. What a story it could tell ! What
eventful changes had passed over its venerable head during
the one hundred and fourteen years that it did service here !
The training of nearly four generations of souls for heaven
belongs to this eventful history. Its valedictory was preached
by Rev. Mr. Hotchkiss, December 29, 1839, from Numbers
ix, 17th and i8th verses.

Mr. Mather continued to serve the church until June,
1732, when he was dismissed by a council ; but he resided
here until his death, February 11, 1737, in his fifty-second
year. At the time of his dismissal, the church numbered
forty-eight members, — of whom fifteen were males and thirty-
three females. This is the earliest authentic enumeration of
the membership.

With regard to Mr. Mather's character and standing, the
church records testify that he was " an able, eloquent and
commanding divine." Dr. David D. Field says of him,
" As a linguist, he greatly excelled ;" and Rev. F. W. Hotch-
kiss, one of his successors, describes him as " a very pungent
preacher, and fearless reprover." In the inscription upon his
tombstone he is characterized as " a faithfull minister, a gen-
erall scholar, an eminent Christian, a very great sufferer, but
now in glory a triumpher." Seven printed sermons are
named as the products of his pen, and one in Latin is spoken
of on being " Baptized for the dead," from i Cor. xv. : 29,
which probably was never put into type. His wife survived him

—35—

with one son and four daughters ; and the names of several of
his descendants are at present upon the church roll. During
his ministry, Joseph Blague was chosen in 1725 to fill the
office of deacon made vacant by the death of Dea. William
Parker; and in 1726 Andrew Lord was chosen to the same
office on the death of Dea. Nathaniel Chapman.

After an interval of a little more than four years, Mr.
William Hart was ordained as the fourth settled incumbent
of the pastoral office in this church. He was of unmixed
Puritan ancestry, the great-grandson of Stephen Hart, an emi-
grant from Braintree, Essex County, England, and a leader
among the early settlers of Farmington, in this state — the first
deacon also of the church there. His father was Rev. John
Hart, the first pastor of the church in East Guilford, now
Madison, who, as already stated in another connection, was
the first student in the Collegiate School established here that
received the bachelor's degree, and who, according to the
historian of Guilford, subsequently became " one of the first
eminence of preachers in his day." Mr. William Hart's
mother was Rebecca, daughter of John Hubbard, a prominent
merchant of Boston, and a granddaughter of the distinguished
historian. Rev. William Hubbard. He was the elder child of
his parents, born in East Guilford, May 9, 17 13.

After graduation at Yale in the class of 1732, Mr. William
Hart pursued the study of theology in the college, where he
filled the position of butler for two years from September,
1734. In 1736 he received and accepted a call to the pastor-
ate of this church, over which he was ordained on the 17th
of November of that year. The ordination sermon was
preached by Rev. Jared Elliot, of Killingworth, now Clinton.
His ministerial life here lasted nearly forty-eight years, during
which he held fast the united affections of his people. As old
age came upon him, his failing health, by reason of paralysis,
disqualified him for active service, and, as a consequence, Mr.
Frederick W. Hotchkiss was settled as a colleague about ten
months before his death, which occurred on Sunday, July 11,
1784, he being in the seventy-second year of his age.

-36-

On the 8th of June, 1742, some five years and a half after
his ordination, Mr. Hart took for a helpmeet, Mary, daughter
of Dea. Joseph Blague, of this church, through whom he was
blessed with a family of nine children — five sons and four
daughters. His residence was situated on the west side of
our Main Street, north of the house, still standing, built and
occupied by his youngest son, the late Capt. Elisha Hart, and
in so close proximity to it that, it is said, the eldest child of
this son, soon after her birth, was shown to the grandparents-
through an open window.

During the period embraced within the long ministry of
Mr. Hart, the country was shaken with violent social and
political movements which greatly disturbed the peace and
hindered the growth of the churches. The two "old French
wars," which had for their object the establishment of French
domination in America — one beginning in 1740, and ending
in 1748 with the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle; and the other
opening in 1755, and resulting in the English conquest of
Canada in 1760, and thus saving the future occupants of this
soil from becoming the vassals of a fanatical despot — levied
heavily upon the property and blood of Saybrook in common
with other towns in the colony. Afterward occurred the-
great and critical struggle of the united colonies for independ-
ence of Great Britain, lasting from April 9, 1775, when the
first blood was shed in the streets of Lexington, to the same
day and month in 1783, when a proclamation was issued to
the army announcing the signing of the treaty of peace at
Paris. These eight years were years of such excitement and
anxiety as it is difficult now to realize. The people had
staked their all on the result and they were in deadly earnest.
Burdens were laid upon them which nothing but a sublime
patriotism and a lofty religious principle enabled them to bear.
At the same time, among a portion of the population, the
breaking up of regular home life incidental to service in the
army, and the spread of infidel sentiments through association
with our French allies, operated disastrously to the cause of
morals and religion. Through all these unpropitious and

—37—

ttying scenes, Mr. Hart stood calmly at his post of duty,,
ministering to his flock according to their need.

Apart from the spiritual welfare of his parish, there were no
subjects which awakened so deep an interest in the mind of
Mr. Hart as the questions of theology and ecclesiastical order,
which in his days were agitating the churches. There was a
sharp line of division drawn between a conservative party
which adhered to the old established view^s of Christian
doctrine and the ecclesiastical methods sanctioned by usage,
and a party of " reform," which regarded the accepted views
as erroneous and the old methods as outgrown and unsuited
to the times — between those who were called " Old Lights,"
and those termed " New Lights." In his " Biographical
Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College," F. B. Dexter
says of Mr. Hart, " He belonged to and was one of the
coolest-headed and shrewdest of the conservative 'Old Light'
school of clergymen, who looked with distrust on all attempted
reformations of principles or religious manners."

The Great Revival, which began its course in 1740 and
continued through several succeeding years, furnished the first
occasion for bringing into manifestation the conflict of opinion
between these two parties. The New Lights favored the
revival, while the Old Lights looked upon it with serious
apprehension and distrust, and many of them opposed it. The
distrust and opposition were occasioned in part by loose and
superficial views of Christian doctrine taught by the promoters
of the revival, but in a larger degree by the measures em-
ployed. In 1 74 1, Mr. Hart prepared and published "A
Discourse on James i: 18, Concerning the Nature of Regen-
eration and the Way Wherein it is Wrought," in order as he
says, " to lead the ignorant into a true knowledge of the
Scripture doctrine of regeneration, and estabHsh the minds of
those who know and believe the truth and to guard them
against some errors which I apprehend many people are in
danger of at this day." This is a soundly orthodox and
scriptural discourse, and gives evidence that the congrega-
tion to which he ministered was faithfully instructed in the
Christian faith. Two years later, with a design to correct

-38-

false views which were in vogue, he wrote and published
another discourse entitled, " The Holy Scriptures the Com-
pleat and Only Rule of Religious Faith and Practice, on
2 Tim. iii : 16-17."

As we cast our eyes backward we can easily see that there
•were two sides to this revival. At its commencement the
ministers and churches were totally unprepared for such a
tremendous upheaval. They had never known anything hke
it. And hence it is not strange that in the interests of pure
religion they were honestly driven into opposite extremes of
approval or of opposition, according to their different points
of view. The waking up of the churches from a state of
formality and declension, the reformation of morals and the
conversion of thousands of souls to Christ, constituted a
blessing, the value of which could not be overestimated.
Those who fixed their eyes on this side of the picture were
constrained to accord their approval and give their coopera-
tion. On the other hand, there were mingled with these
good results so many errors and extravagances and disorders,
that to many observers it was questionable whether, in the
long run, religion was not losing more than it gained. One
of the first exhibitions of disorder was the entrance into the
field of a company of uneducated men who pushed themselves
boldly forward into direct collision with the regular ministers
and their churches — men who depended on inward impulses
and impressions of an abnormal type, rather than upon truth
and reason, as evidence that they spoke and acted under the
direct guidance of the Spirit of God. These were followed by
a class of itinerating clergymen who, having given up their
own pastoral charges, traveled up and down in the land,
haranguing the people where they could gather a crowd,
denouncing those settled ministers who did not endorse their
measures, pronouncing them unconverted and advising the
setting up of separate worship. The consequences were most
disastrous to the peace of many communities and were
marked by contention, confusion and the division of churches
formerly united and prosperous.

—39—

Among the most conspicuous and mischievous of these
itinerants was Rev. James Davenport, a great-grandson of the
celebrated John Davenport, founder and first minister of the
church of New Haven, and a college classmate of Mr. Hart.
He was pastor of a church in Southold, Long Island, and on
hearing of the wonderful success of Rev. George Whitefield,
as a traveling evangelist, he was seized with an irrepressible
ambition to become an imitator of his methods, and thus to
produce like results. But like all imitators of highly endowed
men, he proved to be a caricature of his model. He was,
however, a great favorite of Whitefield, who, according to Rev.
Andrew Croswell, declared that he " never knew one keep so
close a walk with God as Mr. Davenport." Mr. Tennent
affirmed Mr. Davenport to be " one of the most heavenly men
he ever was acquainted with." And yet this man, driven by
an ambition to be a leader, fanatical in his measures and
violent against all who withheld their approval of him,
scattered firebrands of strife among the churches and helped
to provoke the opposition which brought the revival to an
end. In his peregrinations he came to Saybrook on the 25th
of August, 1 74 1, and reque.sted permis.sion of Mr. Hart to
preach in his pulpit.* Mr. Hart, who in college had known
him well and had heard much of his recent wild and extrava-
gant measures, asked him if it was his practice, as reported, to
condemn ministers as unconverted. He replied that it was.
Mr. Hart then asked him on what evidence he condemned
them. Instead of answering this question, he .stated the
object for which he did it — which was for the purification of
the churches, and the discovery of the unconverted, that they
might be avoided. He avowed that he encouraged the estab-
lishment of separate meetings of the converted, and the labors
of itinerant exhorters. After a vain attempt to procure some
concession from him, Mr. Hart refused him the use of the
pulpit. Davenport then said to his attendants, " Come, let us
go forth without the camp after the Lord Jesus, bearing his
reproach. O, 'tis plea.sant to suffer reproach for the blessed

*Chauncey's State of Religion in New England. Ed. 1743, p. 152.

— 40—

Jesus! Sweet Jesus!" The next day Mr. Hart, in company
with Mr. Worthington of Westbrook, Mr. Nott of Pautipaug,
and Mr. Bsckwith of Hamburgh, neighboring pastors, called
upon him for the purpose of conversing with him respecting
his methods. He vehemently denounced them as " uncon-
verted men," " blind guides," " wolves in sheep's clothing "
and the Hke, and then left them to attend a meeting in the
neighborhood. Thus the " great work " which he boasted he
was going to do in Saybrook came to naught. Mr. Hart's
discretion and firmness carried him and his people safely
through this trial. Rev. Mr. Hotchkiss, Mr. Hart's successor,
who doubtless had often heard the story repeated, adds the
following particulars in his half-century sermon : " The high
zeal of Davenport, accompanied by numbers from other places
who followed in his train, as they passed through the streets
hymning their sacred songs and encompassed this sanctuary,
denouncing the coldness of the people, all evanesced without
leaving any impression but that of its being a spirit of fanati-
cism."

Some ten or fifteen years after the excitement in respect to
the Great Revival had subsided, the theological world was
greatly stirred up by the doctrinal novelties propounded and
published by Dr. Stephen West, of Stockbridge, Mass., Dr,
Joseph Bellamy, of Bethlehem, Conn., and especially by Dr.
Samuel Hopkins, of Newport, R. T, on the subjects of Moral
Agency, Depravity, Atonement and Disinterested Benevolence.
Mr. Hart, who was by nature a conservative and clung to the
■Calvinism of the Savoy or Saybrook Confession, entered with
zeal into the controversy which these novelties provoked. He
defended his positions in several pamphlets with rare logical
acumen. And although the Calvinism of the Confession has
since undergone modifications in the faith of the churches,
some of his objections to the " New Divdnity " of his day have
stood the test of time. It is said that he originated the term
" Hopkinsianism," as applied to the scheme of doctrine which
he opposed. As a result of the conflict between these types
■of doctrine, it may be said that while the Hopkinsian scheme

—41—

has been modified in its sharper features, it has left its deep
impress upon the accepted theology of the day.

Another subject, which enlisted the zeal and pen of Mr.
Hart, was the famous " Wallingford Controversy" — a subject
of so much importance in the view of Dr. Trumbull that in his
" History of Connecticut " he devoted to it an entire chapter.
The case involved so many complications that it cannot be
treated here in detail except so far as to show Mr. Hart's con-
nection with it. Stated in brief, the case was this :

Mr. James Dana, a resident of Cambridge, Mass., came to
Wallingford with the best credentials as a candidate for the
pastorate, which for several years had been vacant. A call
was extended to him with* apparent harmony, which he
accepted, and " letters missive " were issued in the regular
way for the convening of a council for his ordination on the
nth of October, 1758. At this stage of the proceedings, Mr.
Dana, being in sympathy with the " Old Light " party of the
times, was confronted by an organized opposition of a minority
in the Wallingford church and society, instigated, as was be-
lieved, by "New Light" ministers in the neighborhood. With
a view to hinder his ordination, the Consociation of New Haven
County was by request hastily convened at Wallingford on
the very day appointed for the meeting of the ordaining
Council. It was a memorable day. The Consociation, with
the assumed authority of a Presbyterian Court, forbade the
Council from proceeding, on grounds that were regarded as
unreasonable. No explanations and no concessions short of
absolute surrender to this authority availed to satisfy the
opposition. The Council thereupon, regarding itself as in the
right, went forward and set Mr. Dana in his place, where he
served the church for a period of more than thirty years and
until dismissed on account of ill health. The sentence of non-
communion, which the Consociation hurled against Mr. Dana,
the Wallingford church and those who took part in the ordi-
nation, was harmless, but it proved a boomerang, recoiling
upon the high assumptions of authority on the part of the
Consociation. The new pastor proved to be a man of great
talents and learning and of eminent public usefulness, and at

—42—

an early age was honored with a theological doctorate by the
University of Edinburgh. Subsequently he filled the ofifice of
pastor of the First Church, New Haven, for sixteen and a half
years. Into this controversy Mr. Hart threw himself with
effective force, sustaining the action of the ordaining Council
in two strong pamphlets, in which the scintillations from his
pen were sparkles of the strict Congregationalism of this
church which brooked no higher ecclesiastical authority under
Christ than itself Not only did he denounce the action of
the Consociation with his pen as being uncongregational and
unreasonable, but in utter disregard of the sentence of non-
communion, he continued as the occasion offered to hold
fellowship with the Wallingford church by preaching in its
pulpit and administering the sacraments. For this both he
and Rev. John Devotion, of Westbrook, who was in full sym-
pathy with him, were complained of before the Western
Association of New London County, to which they belonged.
The Association, having carefully examined the case, unani-
mously decided that " we do not judge our brethren guilty of
censurable conduct."

Besides the publications already referred to, Mr. Hart put
forth a pamphlet in 1771 criticizing President Edwards' " Dis-
sertations Concerning the Nature of True Virtue,' and in
1772, another in "Answer to the Question, What are the
Necessary Qualifications for a Lawful and Approved Attend-
ance on the Sacraments of the New Covenant?" — twelve
publication.? in all.

The closing period of his active ministry was the period of
the War of the American Revolution, to the effects of which
upon morals and religion I have already alluded. The com-
munity which composed this Christian congregation was in
its infancy cradled in a military fort, and in its earlier history
was, by its exposed situation, trained to courage and skill in
the use of arms in defense of its homes and liberties. As
might have been anticipated, it answered with promptness the
call for troops in the struggle for independence of the British
Crown. This is not the place for repeating the names, even if
they had all been preserved, and for recounting the self-

—43—

sacrifices and deeds of valor of those members of this church
and congregation who took part in this struggle. But it is
specially pertinent to state that of the five sons of Mr. Hart^
three did service in the army. The eldest son, William,,
known as Gen. Hart, enlisted in 1776 and was chosen as
sergeant of a company of militia in garrison at Fort Schuyler.
Afterwards he was appointed as major-commandant of a
battalion of Light Horse, which w^as present at Danbury at
the time of Tryon's raid. His brother Joseph was upon his
staff as adjutant. John, the third son, was first lieutenant of
Capt. Elisha Chapman's company enlisted here, which was.
engaged in the battles of Long Island and White Plains. The
patriotic spirit of Mr. Hart was doubtless reflected in that of
his sons and of his flock. He survived the proclamation of
peace about fifteen months.

In summing up the character and work of Mr. Hart, I cite
the testimony of Dr. David D. Field, that he "was prudent
and judicious in the management of his flock, and enjoyed to
an uncommon degree their affection and esteem." His suc-
cessor, Rev. F. W. Hotchkiss, says of him : " This venerated
father in the ministry was highly esteemed in council by his
brethren and the churches. By his talents and prudence he
had a commanding influence in conducting the concerns of
his church and people, and retained their united affection
through a ministry of nearly forty-eight years." Rev. John
Devotion, of Westbrook, who preached his funeral sermon,
represents him as a man of large charity and of conscientious
fidelity. " Being mighty in the Scriptures, which he had
known from his youth, he was able to teach and he gave to
each a portion in due season. And to grace the whole, he
lived and practiced the religion which he taught." In his
physique he was a tall, courtly, fine-looking man, with address
and manners which secured respect and won confidence.
" He was blessed with bright intellectual powers, which, im-
proved by a liberal education, rendered him an able scholar
in the Greek and Latin languages ; in logic he discerned
between true and false reasoning and sophistry with great
precision ; in church history and acquaintance with human

—44—

nature he excelled. Rare prudence directed his steps and
preserved him ; perfectly master of himself and of his passions,
he seldom gave offence ; savory in conversation, yet facetious
at suitable times."

He relied for the success of his ministry upon the regular
preaching of the word and pastoral visitation, rather than
upon special occasional efforts. A mid-week lecture and
lessons in the catechism for the children were ordinarily the
only religious services which he held besides those appointed
for the Sabbath. At the opening of his pastorate the church
numbered forty-eight members — fifteen males, thirty-three
females. At the close the number was sixty-nine — thirty-
one males, thirty-eight females. The whole number received
by him was one hundred and eighty-nine. Among the
present members of this church there are several who trace
their line of descent from him as their ancester. Vacancies in
the diaconate during his ministry were filled by the choice of
Joshua Bushnell in 1742, Hezekiah Whittlesey in 1761,
Caleb Chapman in 1774, and Samuel Kirtland and Chris-
topher Lord in 1782.

On the 23d of September, 1783, some ten months prior to
the decease of Rev. William Hart, Mr. Frederick William
HoTCHKiss was ordained as his colleague in the pastoral
office. He was the fifth of the seven children of John
Hotchkiss and Mrs. Susannah (Jones) Hotchkiss of New
Haven, where he was born, October 30, 1762, in the family
dwelling-house which stood upon the corner of Elm and
High Streets, just north of the present Alumni Hall of Yale
University.

The family was of pure New Haven stock. His father, a
descendant of Samuel Hotchkiss, an early settler, was a
graduate of Yale in the class of 1748, a generous patron of
the institution, and a scholar of such excellence as to win, not
only from his Alma Mater, but from Harvard, Princeton and
Dartmouth Colleges, the honorary degree of Master of Arts.
After graduation he taught in the Hopkins Grammar School
for a number of years. On resigning this position, he de-

—45—

A'oted himself to mercantile affairs, and published, in con-
nection with his partner, " Clap's Annals of Yale College."

The mother, Mrs. Susannah (Jones) Hotchkiss, was a
descendant of William Jones, who married Hannah, the
youngest daughter of Gov. Theophilus Eaton, and settled in
New Haven in August, 1660, and who is noted as having
■been Lieutenant-Governor of New Haven Colony, and after
the union of New Haven with Connecticut, Lieutenant-
Governor of the United Colonies. The family was connected
with the congregation of the White Haven Church, one of
the organizations subsequently merged in the present United
or North Church. Of this White Haven Church Mrs.
Hotchkiss became a member in July, 1757. To her godly
example and faithful teaching, enforced by the powerful
preaching of her pastor, Dr. Jonathan Edwards, was doubt-
less due the early leaning of the son towards a life of piety
and the Gospel ministry.

The son, Frederick William, graduated at Yale College in
the class of 1778, at the age of sixteen. He took a high rank
in classical studies, and for excellence therein the Berkeley
prize was awarded to him. For four years he devoted him-
self to teaching in several places, giving his earnest attention,
the while, to the study of theology under such competent
teachers as were located near to him. In 1782, we find him
pursuing his work as a teacher in Wethersfield, where
doubtless he availed himself of the instruction of Rev. Dr.
John Marsh. On the 22d of September of that year he was
" admitted to full communion " in the Wethersfield Church.
This delay in availing himself of the privilege of " full
church communion," while seeking the qualifications for the
ministerial office, presents a question which we cannot posi-
tively solve. Possibly he might previously have had a
•church connection on the half-way covenant plan.

But we must not omit to speak of an episode in the life of
Mr. Hotchkiss which occurred some three years earlier. It
was in 1779, the year after his graduation. The Revolution-
ary war being in progress, a sudden attack was made by
jBritish troops under the command of General Tryon upon

-46-

New Haven, on Monday, July 5th, just as the citizens were
preparing to celebrate the Declaration of Independence. He
acted as aid to Captain James Hillhouse, who, with a small
force hastily collected, made an effort to repel the incursion*
of the enemy's troops as they approached the city from the
west. This force, made up largely of students and graduates
of the College, with Dr. Daggett, the president, among them,
encountered the British regulars in deadly conflict. The
father of Mr. Hotchkiss and two uncles were slain. It was-
the deep-seated memory of this event which stirred his strong
patriotic impulses, and gave an emphatic tone to his prayers
and addresses at military reviews and on Fourth of July-
celebrations, and other public occasions, when, with sonorous,
voice and soul-stirring eloquence, he officiated as chaplain.

We now return to the course of our narrative. Having
made a public profession of his faith in September, 1782, he
applied on the first Tuesday of the next month, October, to
the Hartford South Association of Ministers at their meeting
in Eastbury, now Buckingham, for a license to preach the
Gospel, which was granted to him. He preached his first
sermon in Berlin, where probably he had taught a school.
In a biographic sketch prepared for his grand-daughter, he
writes : " On the next Sabbath I was invited to officiate
before the General Assembly at Hartford. It was there that
I received several invitations to preach, one of which was
from Saybrook. I came to this place soon after, and-
preached on the first Sabbath in November. Very soon, I
was invited to take the pastoral charge of this church, as
junior colleague with Mr. Hart. I preferred accepting this
invitation, because I was very young and inexperienced."
He had just passed his twentieth birthday when the call was
extended to him. At his ordination, which occurred Septem-
ber 23, 1783, the principal parts were performed by the fol-
lowing ministers: Rev. Stephen Johnson of the First Church
of Lyme, now Old Lyme, preached the sermon from Eccle-
siastes xii. : 1 1 ; Rev. Chauncey Whittlesey of New Haven
offered the consecrating prayer and imposed hands with Rev^

—47—

Messrs. William Hart, Stephen Johnson, and EHzur Good-
rich, D. D., of Durham ; Rev. Jonathan Todd of East Guil-
ford (Madison) gave the charge, and Rev. Benjamin Dunning
-of the Second Church of Saybrook gave the right hand of
.fellowship. Mr. Hart survived until July ii, 1784, when he
{passed away in the forty-eighth year of his ministry and the
seventy second of his age. From this time the sole charge
of the flock devolved upon the young minister, a charge
which with whole-hearted devotion he bore until the ordina-
■tion of his own colleague nearly fifty-five years afterwards.

In addition to his salary, the exact amount of which is not
known, the Ecclesiastical Society voted to Mr. Hotchkiss
dn the way of a "settlement" two hundred and fifty pounds
in money, the equivalent in Connecticut currency of $833.33,
towards building a dwelling-house. The house was built in
1785 by Mr. Humphrey Pratt, and still stands on our Main
-Street, having been recently owned and occupied by the late
^Charles W. Morse. It was not, however, till the 29th of
August, 1790, that it was consecrated as his home by in-
stalling over it his newly married wife, Amelia Hart, the
youngest child of his predecessor. Two daughters were
there born to him, the older of whom became the wife of
i:he late Amos Sheffield, a well-known merchant of this place.
■" Madam Hart," as she was called, the widowed mother of
Mrs. Hotchkiss, was lovingly cared for in this family until
her death, December 11, 1800.

The income of the society, with the exception of rent of
meadow land and fisheries, was then derived almost entirely
'from the annual rent of pews in the meeting-house. Once or
-twice during this ministry attempts were made to return to
■the old custom of "dignifying" the seats by a committee.
JBut the measure encountered so much opposition that it was
abandoned. At the society's meeting in December, 1808, it
was voted, that, " for the year ensuing every person may sit
where he pleases"; and, the expenses were met by a tax of
-two cents on the dollar levied on the grand list. The experi-
anent was not repeated.

-48-

At the beginning of Mr. Hotchkiss' ministry, vital godli-
ness in the church was at a discount. " The church was ii>
practice lukewarm and indifferent." The Revolutionary War
was just closing, and though it had called into action the
noblest exhibitions of self-sacrificing patriotism, it had oper-
ated depressingly upon the spirituality and zeal of professed
Christians. And in addition to this, the reaction from the
irregularities and disorders attending the Great Revival had
not yet spent its force. There were only sixty-nine members
in the church, and for the first three years under the new
ministry, six was the average annual accession. But in 1787"
and the following three years ninety-six were gathered in.

In the year 1798, after Mr. Hotchkiss had held the pastoraE
office about fifteen years, he passed through a marked
Christian experience which so deepened his conviction oF
the heinousness of sin and so enlarged his views of the atone-
ment, as to constitute the beginning of a new and higher
Christian life. He was sometimes led to speak of it as a
second, if not a first, conversion. On the 6th of November
of that year he was at his mother's house in New Haven, on
a visit, when after having retired at night to his bed he was-
" seized suddenly with a most alarming sense and awful view
of sin and danger of destruction, of being abandoned of God
and being given up to remediless ruin." So terrible was his
distress that he felt that he should sink under the burden.
He sought his mother's chamber, hoping to find relief in her
counsels and prayers. In the morning there was " unusual
gloom, but less terror," in his feelings. On returning home
his troubles of mind followed him and were the frequent
theme of conversation with his wife. For a year or more he
continued under the cloud, but gradually he was able to lay
hold on Christ fully as an all-suffi.cient Savior, with a com-
fortable hope of forgiveness through Him. The result of this
experience was that his piety took on a more elevated and
spiritual character and his preaching became more earnest
and evangelical.

For the ten succeeding years the annual additions to the
church were not large. But in 1808 "the valley of drjr

—49—

bones " showed signs of returning life, and there ensued a
revival of religion of the most striking character. There had
been handed down from the preceding generation, a strong
prejudice against special efforts to promote revivals, especially-
such as were connected with evening meetings. But as some-
thing must be done to meet the demands of the awakening
manifest among the people, the brethren were invited by Mr.
Hotchkiss to convene at his house to discuss the subject of
evening meetings, for prayer and religious services. We let
him tell the story as to the issue, in his half-century sermon :
" They met accordingly, and the result was a happy unanimity
of sentiment and a conviction that unless the anxious were
instructed from house to house, and in season and out of
season, there would be schisms arising and operating to the
detriment of brotherhood. The solicitous inquirer must be
fed by his pastor, or he would seek others to give him food.
With this impression the church were united and gave their
pledge to assist their pastor in his future meetings for all
revival calls at all seasons. On the next week evening ap-
pointments for religious services, and for anxious inquirers,
were assigned at different houses, and the brethren were found
ready and faithful for all ministerial help. All seemed as one
in sentiment and feeling, and a most delightful harmony per-
vaded all classes and gladdened all hearts."

As the fruits of this awakening, sixteen members were
added to the church in 1809, and seventy-four in the follow-
ing year, an aggregate of ninety. At this time, the parish
contained one hundred and fifty-three families. Weekly-
appointments for evening services became a regular feature
of church-work from this time forth, with good annual
results. In 18 16. the number of communicants was one
hundred and ninety-six. At the close of the year 1826,
there was another mighty movement, which brought into
the church " ninety-three persons of every age from early
youth to advanced years." This revival had hardly run its
course before a third, still more striking in its character,
began to manifest itself, the subjects of which amounted to
one hundred and forty hopeful converts. Of these, seventy-

—50—

three stood up together in the aisles of the old sanctuary to
be admitted to church fellowship on the first Sabbath in
March, 1830. In this last revival, Mr. Hotchkiss was assisted
by Rev. Samuel Griswold, and in the previous one by Rev.
Nicholas Patterson.

But I need not particularize further than to say, that as
long as this honored father lived to labor in the ministry
here, the quickening Spirit accompanied his labors. In the
year 1835, forty-five additions were made to the church, and
in 1837, thirty-two; so that his wonderful success did not
wane amid growing infirmities, but followed him to the very
day of the ordination of his colleague, when he was in the
seventy-sixth year of his age, and the fifty-sixth of his minis-
try. During his sole pastorate, six hundred and thirty-two
names were added to the church roll — a yearly average of
nearly twelve.

Mr. Hotchkiss was a perfect contrast to his predecessor in
this, that he gave very little of his time to the study and dis-
cussion of the profounder questions of theology. He had no
relish for controversy ; but, well-grounded in the great doc-
trines of Scripture, his interest was absorbed in their practical
bearing. In his own language, " The great truths of our
holy religion are few and plain to be understood, — comprised
in two short sentences, viz. : Man entirely lost by sin ; and
the sinner saved by sovereign grace." Upon these themes in
their almost infinite variety of aspect and application, he was
never tired of preaching, and his people never tired of hear-
ing. His successor thus speaks of him as a preacher : " He
aimed to move his congregation, by touching appeals, by
simple and forcible illustrations of divine truth. Possessed of
a strong imagination and retentiv^e memory, with a ready use
of language, his voice having the fullness of the lowest bass
and the sweetness of the softest tenor, ever varying with his
subject from the highest to the lowest key, his hearers never
became weary, but always enjoyed his pulpit addresses with
the relish of a new and harmonious song." He seldom
wrote out his sermons, but preached from brief notes. His
prayers were marked by freedom, appropriateness and tender-

—51 —

ness. His Sabbath services seldom exceeded an hour and a
half in length. His voice, whenever the occasion called for it,
Jiad a Whitefieldian compass and strength without harshness.
When, on the two hundredth anniversary of the founding of
New Haven, in 1838, he offered the prayer introductory to
the solemnities under the " Davenport Elm," he was heard
with distinctness by those who stood at the outermost edges
-of the vast throng estimated at from eight to ten thousand.
A published report says of it, " The most gifted, heart-
thrilling and patriotic prayer to which we ever listened-
A death-like stillness in the immense multitude showed how
•powerful and solemn the feelings awakened by the ardor of
the aged and venerable pastor."

In his middle and later life, he presented to the eye a
stately commanding figure. The spare delicate look of his
younger manhood gave place to a stoutness of build and a
portliness without corpulence. His easy gentlemanly man-
Jiers and his kindly face and words inspired those who came
into contact with him, with an affectionate confidence, which
was mingled with profound respect and veneration. His
step was measured and deliberate, never nervous. His health
was phenomenal. He stated in his sixtieth anniversary
sermon, that " in all this period," sixty years, " I have never
been confined one day by sickness, and but five Sabbaths by
wounds and dislocated limbs." In him, there was presented
a literal example of a happy child of God as set forth in the
103d Psalm. " Thy youth is renewed as the eagle's." His
methodical habits and his serenity of temper doubtless con-
tributed largely to this unbroken state of health.

If in any one department of his ministerial service he
-excelled, it was in pastoral work. He not only made it a
point to bring to the homes of sickness and affliction words
of consolation and the uplifting help of prayer, to visit the
schools, giving encouragement to the scholars and hearing
them repeat, according to the old custom, the answers in the
^'Shorter Catechism," but he visited in a regular round all his
parishioners annually, in a fatherly way, ever receiving from
them a most cordial welcome, each family, excepting, perhaps,

—52—

the very poorest, counting it a privilege to entertain him at
their tea table. In these visits he entered with sympathy
into the trials and joys of his flock, bestowing his counsels,,
cherishing the acquaintance of the children, and leaving
behind him, as a talisman against evil, his coveted paternal
benediction. Five afternoons in the week, when not hindered
by other demands upon his time, he gave to these parochial
calls, almost invariably walking over his route and so arrang-
ing the order as to hold a religious service successfull)/' in the
three remoter schoolhouses of his parish, " at early candle
lighting."

There is no evidence that Mr. Hotchkiss was ever discon-
tented with the field of labor in which his Lord had placed
him. Many times there were offences and frictions which
greatly annoyed him. " But," says his colleague and suc-
cessor, " his people never had a suspicion that he desired to
be elsewhere. He received during the course of his ministry
several invitations to remove and locate in some other place^
and he was strongly solicited by some of his friends to accept
a flattering invitation presented to him in the year i8il,to
become the president of a literary institution at the West.
His choice was unalterably made to live and die in the place
where God directed him in his youth."

For a number of years he taught at his own house a private
school in which he fitted some thirty young men for college,
eight of whom were members of his own parish. His heart
was ever sensitive and his ears ever open to the calls of phi-
lanthropy and Christian beneficence. Home and foreign
missions, African colonization, the abolition of slavery and
the cause of temperance enlisted his zealous efforts for their
promotion as soon as Divine Providence brought their claims
into view. The monthly concert of prayer for the conversion
of the world was regularly sustained. To the Sunday School
he gave his hearty support. It was started on a small scale
in 1821 or 1S22; but in 1823 a " Sabbath School Union " was
formed which took its oversight in charge, of which his son-
in-law, Mr. Amos Sheffield, was secretary and treasurer.
Through this instrumentality, a library was gathered which

—53—

in 1828 numbered 324 volumes. For some ten or twelve
years after its establishment, the school was suspended during
the winter.

In the matter of Church Order, he firmly adhered, out of
intelligent conviction as well as from filial love for the New
England fathers, to the Congregational polity as all his
predecessors had done. When, therefore, in 1830, a number of
his parishioners seceded from this Ecclesiastical Society with a
view to connect themselves with an Episcopal organization, he
was as deeply grieved as a father would have been had some
of his children forsaken him. A somewhat similar experience
affected him when in 1837 a Methodist Church was organized
within the limits of the parish. But time soon healed the
wounds of feeling, even though it did not restore to his
pastoral care his old-time parishioners. The losses which he
had experienced were made up to him during his later years
by the respect and love of the entire community.

In the year 1833, September 22, he preached his Half-
Century Sermon, in which, after reviewing his long pastorate,
he took occasion to request his people to relieve him from
active service by the settlement of a colleague. No decisive
action was taken on this request until September 26, 1837,
when, at a society meeting, he offered his positive resignation
with the proposal " to relinquish all claims as to his salary as
soon as a candidate shall be employed to supply the pulpit,
or a colleague shall be settled, reserving only a seat in the
house of worship for himself and family, with exemption from
taxation." The resignation was accepted and on the first
Sunday in the new year, 1838, he preached what he called his
" Valedictory." In this discourse he specified what should be
his " latest prayers " for the people of his charge : First, that
this ancient church might be sustained in its Puritan sim-
plicity; second, that God would give to his people a collegiate
pastor and successor to himself thoroughly furnished for his
work ; third, that the families of his people might be blessed
with spiritual and temporal prosperity, and with the best
educational privileges ; and, to use his own language, " my
last prayer is a request for your prayers united with mine,..

—54—

that the closing services of my life and ministiy may be
peace in retrospect, with a bright hope, strong faith and full
reliance on the covenant mercies of God to the faithful."

A call having been extended to Rev. S. J. Tracy to settle
here in the Gospel ministry as the colleague of Mr. Hotchkiss,
and declined, Mr. Ethan B. Crane, a recently licensed student
in theology, was invited to assume this position. He accepted
the invitation and was ordained and installed on the 27th of
June of that year, 1838. On that day, the venerable pastor
laid down the responsible duties of the charge which he had
borne so bravely and with such eminent success nearly fifty-
five years. Add to this the ten months in which he served
the church previous to his ordination and the five years and
nine months during which he sustained the relation of senior
pastor, and we have a ministry of more than sixt}^-two years.
And in this connection it deserves to be stated, as a most
remarkable fact in our ecclesiastical history', that the two pas-
torates of Mr. Hart and Mr. Hotchkiss extended without a
break over a continuous period of one hundred and eight
years.

Even after this venerable father was relieved of the more
responsible duties of his charge, he sought and delighted in
opportunities of doing good. Says Mr. Crane, " Perhaps he
was never more useful to his people than in the last few
months of his life. He continued to visit their dwellings and
families to the last ; when there, giving them a pleasing exhi-
bition of the power of faith in producing the choicest fruits of
a holy life in extreme old age. He wished to die suddenly,
to die on the holy Sabbath-day." In his pastoral visits he
did not shrink from a seven-mile walk to and from the
remoter families in the parish.

On the 24th of December before his decease, he was able
to preach a sermon marking the sixtieth anniversar>^ of his
ordination, upon " the duties, consolations and prospects of
the aged Christian." It was a most beautiful exposition of a
consecrated life. It breathed the fragrance of the paradise at
whose portals he then stood in waiting. Upon Sabbath
evening the 31st of the March following, in the year of our

—55—

Lord 1844, the portals swung open, and he entered in to-
receive his reward. His funeral was attended by nine of his
ministerial brethren, and the procession to the grave was
headed by about three hundred Sunday school teachers and
scholars. The companion of his youth and of his maturity,
bowed down even then by the weight of infirmities and the
weakness of age, survived him about sixteen months, when
she passed within the gates to renew the dear companion-
ship of the earthly life.

In addition to the three discourses of Mr. Hotchkiss cited
in our narrative, eight others were published, i. A Thanks-
giving Sermon on " National Greatness," preached November
29, 1792. 2. Sermon on the death of Mrs. Deborah Sanford,
October 27, 1793. 3. Oration on the death of General
George Washington, February 22, 1800. 4. Sermon at the
Installation of Pythagoras Lodge of Free Masons in Lyme,
October 7, 1800. 5. Sermon in memory of Uriah Hayden, in
the Second Church of Saybrook, October 18, 1801. 6.
Sermon, " The Cross of Christ, the Christian's glory," in
Guilford, November 8, 1801. 7. Sermon on the death of
Rev. Richard Ely, A. M., senior pastor of the Second Church
of Saybrook, August 23, 18 14. 8. Sermon on Solomon and
Hiram, at the celebration of the Festival of St. John, in
Haddam, June 25, 1821.

The persons named in the following Hst were, during his
pastorate, chosen to the office of deacon in this church and
set apart by prayer and the imposition of hands: In 1788,
Travis Ayer ; 1801, Robert Ely; 1803, William Chapman;
1808, William Lord; 1810, Samuel Lynde ; 1823, Timothy
Pratt and Rufus Clark; 1824, Elisha Sill; 1826, William
Chalker; 1834, William R. Clark.

The story of this saintly life and ministry points its own
moral. The blessed and fruitful memories of its outlines and
coloring have not grown dim after the lapse of more than fifty
years. The language of Rev. Salmon McCall, uttered in this
pulpit twenty years after his death, sets forth the impressions
with which his name is even now connected in the minds of
a large proportion of the older people of this community.

-56-

" Need I refer," said the speaker. " to the mingled love and
veneration with which his memory is regarded, and his name
spoken among you still ? Old men trusted him, young men
hearkened to him, little children ran after him and clung to
him."

With the death of Mr. Hotchkiss the one hundred and
ninety-eighth year of the Church's history drew to a close.
During this period, it had been served by only five settled
pastors, and one stated supply who preached about four
years. With the installation of the colleague of Mr. Hotch-
kiss, a new era was entered upon — an era of short pastorates
varying from eighteen months to eighteen years. Not in-
cluding the present pastor, there have been seven incumbents
of this office, four of whom were settled by a council. These
ministries, being fresh in the memories of this people, need
only a brief notice.

The first of these was that of Rev. Ethan Barrows Crane.
He was the son of Jonathan and Orpha (Barrows) Crane, and
was born in West Troy, N. Y., July 15, 181 1. He studied in
preparation for college at Schenectady and Amherst, and was
graduated at Union College in 1832, and at Auburn Theo-
logical Seminary in 1836. A license to preach was given
him by the Cayuga Presbytery, April 15, 1835. He first
presented himself as a candidate for the pastoral office in this
Church on Sunday, March 4, 1838 ; and on the 31st of the
same month, a call was extended to him to settle here as
colleague pastor with Mr. Hotchkiss on an annual salary of
six hundred dollars, he "to perform all the active duties of his
pastoral office." The call was accepted, and he was ordained
and installed on the 27th of June following. Rev. Joel
Hawes, D. D., preached the sermon on the occasion. Rev.
David D. Field, D. D., offered the ordaining prayer, and,
together with Mr. Hotchkiss and Dr. Hawes, imposed hands,
and Mr. Hotchkiss gave the charge.

He came here in the freshness of his early manhood, full of
life, hope and zeal. In physical build, he was rather below
the medium height, with a very erect, compact, but not
robust, frame. In movement, he was alert and emphatic.

—57—

Possessed of a highly mercurial temperament, his counte-
nance and whole person were mobile with expression. His
intellect worked with great rapidity ; and having a free and
ready command of language, he was never at a loss in giving
utterance to his thoughts. Few men excelled him as an
extempore speaker. Whenever he became specially interested
in a subject under discussion, he was able, while upon his
feet, promptly to marshall all his knowledge touching it into
platoons of arguments in support of his views. Hence at
public meetings, when some topic of the times was to be
handled, — such as temperance, missions or slavery, — he was
always in requisition.

He was eminentl}- social, — the favorite of his ministerial
brethren, and the life and center of the circles in which he
moved. In scenes of sorrow, he was as tender-hearted as a
child. The sympathy and mutual cordiality between him and
his aged colleague were beautiful. Though so different in
their characteristic qualities, they walked together in their
relations to one another, as father and son. In his private
birthday "reflections," October 30, 1838, four months after
Mr. Crane's ordination, Mr. Hotchkiss writes : " I am pleased
with my colleague ; my people are united and satisfied
beyond their prayers and expectations." Two years later, he
writes, " I occasionally preach the whole Sabbath in the
absence or infirmity of my colleague, and frequently assist
him in his labors. Through the grace of God we labor
together in Christian love, while he is never once for a half
day forgotten by me in earnest prayer." On his last and
eighty-first birthday, he makes this loving record : " I have
had a long and peaceful ministry and never a happier one
than since I had a colleague. My people seem peculiarly
affectionate to me in my advanced years, and I am still able
to visit all the families annually, and occasionally to preach,
and always to supply the pulpit in the absence of my col-
league."

On the sixth of November following Mr. Crane's ordina-
tion, there was put into execution a purpose which had been
ripening for several years, viz. : to build a new house of

-58-

worship. The old sanctuary had been in use one hundred"
and twelve years, and, if longer used, needed extensive
repairs and alterations. It was decided, therefore, to build
anew, provided five thousand dollars were raised for that
purpose. The amount was promptly subscribed, and on the
first of January, 1839, the building committee was appointed.
On the next New Year's day, 1840, this house in which we
are assembled was consecrated and opened for worship. For
fifty-six years, this structure, though it has undergone some
changes in its interior finish and arrangements, has been the
hallowed gathering place of this Christian congregation.

Though brought up and educated under Presbyterian
auspices, Mr. Crane came into strong sympathy with Congre-
gationalism. Taking his senior colleague as his model, he
gave himself without stint to the work of the pastorate, often
to the exhaustion of his rather slender physical system. He
felt it to be a disadvantage and a discouragement to have for
his field of labor a parish which had been so thoroughly and
successfully worked over, and he sometimes said to his
brethren who were located in communities where there were
more promising opportunities for growth, that he almost
envied them, while with his most earnest efforts he could not
keep this ancient church up to its past condition of prosperity.
Near the close of the thirteenth year of his ministry, his
health failed, and as a consequence his spirits became de-
pressed, and he asked for a protracted vacation. After an
absence of some six months he returned, not to take up his
work again, but to hand in his resignation. He was dis-
missed by a council, September 27, 1851.

He was an earnest and successful laborer in this field.
The Church received twenty-five new members by profession
in 1 84 1, and in 1848 an accession of forty-four. The whole
number received by him into the Church was one hundred
and twelve, eighty-four of them by profession, — an annual
average of between eight and nine. He left behind him an
unstained record, and by those who knew him, his name is
spoken with respect and strong affection.

—59—

In the month of October, 1839, the year after his settle-
ment, he took for his wife Deborah EHzabeth, the eldest
daughter of Timothy and Azubah (Stannard) Pratt, a much
loved and useful member of this church. Their two children
are still living ; but the mother died August 15, 1873.

After leaving Saybrook, Mr. Crane served the churches in
Deep River, Essex, East Hampton and Westbrook for short
periods, until 1855, when he removed to Hunter's Point,
L. I., where he preached four years. He supplied the pulpit
also at Patchogue and Woodhouse, L. L, and was employed
for a short time by the Brooklyn City Mission. In Decem-
ber, 1874, he became pastor of the church in South Meriden^
Conn., where he remained until failing health compelled him
to retire from active service. In March, 1880, he removed to
Brooklyn, where he was lovingly cared for by his children^
and where he died March 7, 1892, in his eighty-first year.
Though afflicted with physical debility and blindness, his last
days were marked by patience, and unbroken peace and
resignation. On March 10, his remains were brought to this
place of his earliest ministry, and buried in the old cemetery,
where stand the monuments of several of his predecessors in
the pastoral office, and also of two of his successors.

He made little or no account of writing for the press. We
recall nothing worthy of mention except an article published
in the Nezv Englander on " Odd Fellowship." During his
pastorate here, William Redfield was chosen to the diaconate
in 1848, and Ozias H. Kirtland in 1850.

When Mr. Crane entered upon his vacation for the recruit-
ing of his health, in May, 185 1, Rev. James Beattie, a
Presbyterian clergyman, who was on a visit to family con-
nections in Saybrook, was engaged to supply the pulpit and
take the pastoral charge of the flock. His services proved
very acceptable and, after Mr. Crane's return and dismission
he was invited to continue his labors, which he did until
November of the following year. Several persons were
brought into the church under his ministry of more than a
year and a half A brief notice of Mr. Beattie will be in place.
He was born in Dumfries, Scotland, December 3, 1803, and

— 6o —

came to this country when nineteen years old. He took up
his residence in the South, and having graduated at the Theo-
logical Seminary in Charleston, S. C, in 1830, he made his
home in New Orleans. There he engaged in mission work
until he was set apart to the Gospel ministry in April, 1845.
Two years later he officiated for a season as pastor of the
Third Presbyterian Church which had been gathered by his
labors. Afterwards, having performed the ministerial services
in Saybrook, to which reference has been made, he filled two
short pastorates in New York State, one at Fordham and one
at Westchester, and then returned to his old home in New
Orleans. Early in the summer of 1884, feeling the infirmities
of age creeping upon him, he chose Saybrook for his last
resting place, where he died on the 2d of June, 1885, in
the eighty-third year of his age. A marble slab, marking his
grave in the old cemetery, bears the appropriate inscription :
" Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the
joy of thy Lord."

Rev. Dr. B. M. Palmer of New Orleans, with whom Mr.
Beattie was associated in ministerial work, thus speaks of him :
" A deep spirit of reverence pervaded his whole being, with a
clerical dignity thrown as a mantle over his demeanor, both
in private and in public. His sermons were distinguished for
their evangelical tone, dealing in no refinements of speculation,
but with practical directness aiming at the conscience and the
heart He was confiding and affectionate in all his intercourse
with friends, constant and firm in the attachments he formed.
In every community in which he lived, he secured the respect
of all ; and he passed to his eternal rest amid the benedictions
of those upon whom the influence of his character and life
had distilled a blessing like the dew of heaven."

Mr. Beattie was twice married, leaving behind him a widow
and four adult children, — a daughter, the issue of his first
marriage, and three sons, the issue of the second.

In January, 1853, after the retirement of Rev. Mr. Beattie,
measures were adopted for the building of a parsonage, and
promptly carried through by means of liberal subscriptions
therefor. Under the old regime, when the theory of the

— 6i—

relation between the pastor and his people was that of a life-
long connection, the pastor in his entrance upon his charge
received as a " settlement " a gift of money or land, or of both,
to enable him to provide for himself a homestead. But in
these modern times, the tenure of the pastoral office having
become changeable, and often quite brief, it has been found to
be almost as much of a necessity to provide a parsonage
in which to house a minister and his family, as to have a
sanctuary for him to preach in. Hence the action taken in
this case was both timely and needful.

Among the ministers who presented themselves in the
pulpit as candidates for the vacant pastorate was the Rev.
Jesse Guernsey, who had already served several years as
pastor of the church in Derby, Conn. In April, 1853, the
church and society gave him a call to settle with them. But,
by reason of some opposition, he declined the call. In the
autumn of the same year, 1853, Mr. Salmon McCall, a
licentiate, preached here to the satisfaction of the congrega-
tion and received an invitation to take the pastoral charge of
the church and society. He accepted the invitation and was
ordained and installed on the 7th day of December ensuing.
President Theodore D. Woolsey of Yale College preached
the sermon on the occasion.

Mr. McCall was the son of William and Sarah (Gallup)
McCall and was born in Lebanon, Conn., March 17, 1826.
He was fitted for college at Phillips Academy, Andover, and
graduated at Yale University in the class of 185 1, and at Yale
Theological Seminary in 1853. His ministry here of nearly
eighteen years, lasting till November 13, 1871, though it
covered the period of our civil war, was a quiet, uniform one,
thus corresponding to his character, with very few salient
points to mark its course. There were in all one hundred
and thirty-four accessions to the church, and these were quite
evenly distributed along the years, except that in 1854 the
number rose to twenty-four, in 1858 eighteen, and in 1863
sixteen.

On the 5th of June, 1872, after his dismission from
Saybrook, he was installed as pastor of the church in

—62—

East Haddam, which relation he held until January i^
1889, when it was dissolved on account of his broker*
health. From that time he made his home in Saybrook until
his death, which occurred in Hartford while under medical
treatment, September 17th of the same year. His age was
63 years and 6 months. Three days later, the burial services-
were held in Saybrook, in the sanctuary in which he was
ordained some thirty-five years and nine months previously..
Many of the neighboring ministers were present, and also
representatives of both parishes which he had served in the
pastoral office. At these services, Rev. J. Howe Vorce thus
speaks of him : " How the thoughts rush through the mind,
— thoughts of a scholarship which was seldom at fault, of a
charity which was never exhausted, of a friendship which
grew rather than wasted by its exercise! His loyalty to
truth was of that vigorous, faithful sort which it is strength as
well as delight to meet. His unquestioning faith in and
reliance upon God's Word was of itself an anchor to hold
other men to their moorings." Rev. James A. Gallup, a
fellow-townsman and college classmate, thus sums up his
characterization of Mr. McCall : "He was a close thinker, a
good reasoner, and a ready writer. As a preacher, he was
earnest, instructive, and spiritual. He had a rare faculty of
adapting his discourses to specific occasions. At funerals, he
was a true son of consolation. In doctrine, he was thoroughly
orthodox, and found little in the new theology to swerve him
from the old paths. Few ministers have given themselves
to the study of the Scriptures in the original languages as
zealously as did our brother. The Hebrew was his delight."
Rev. Burdett Hart, D. D., Annalist of the General Confer-
ence of the Congregational Churches of Connecticut, in his
annual report for 1859, bears a like testimony to the reputa-
tion of Mr. McCall in the state. He was " well-beloved and
honored," and by the churches which he served, " his memory
will long be cherished and revered. His deep study of the
Bible in the Hebrew tongue was a joyful passion, and he-
gained sweet and upUfting inspiration from his close commun-

-63-

ing with those holy men who spoke from God, being moved
by the Holy Spirit."

The following is a list of his publications: i. Sermon
on Responsibility for Public Calamities, 1861. 2. Funeral
Sermon of Mrs. C. K. Tomlinson, 1866. 3. Funeral Sermon;
and, 4. Commemorative Discourse of Mr. Amos Sheffield,
1868. 5. Funeral Sermon of Miss C. J. Rankin, 1868. 6. A
Glimpse of the Invisible World ; A Sermon, 1868. 7. Book
Culture and the Gospel, 1871. 8. Centennial Discourse,
Saybrook, 1876. 9. Centennial Discourse, East Haddam,
1876. 10. Ministerial Character, pp. 24, 1876.

He married, August 23, 1853, Emilie Ehzabeth, daughter
of Rev. Samuel and Mercy (Partridge) Whitney of Waimea,
Hawaiian Islands. One of two daughters survives him.
During his ministry, in 1854, Rufus C. Shepard was chosen
to the office of deacon in this church.

In the course of four or five weeks after the dismission of
Mr. McCall, Rev. Francis Nicoll Zabriskie, D. D., a min-
ister in the communion of the (Dutch) Reformed Church,
presented himself as a candidate for the vacant pastorate, and
in January, 1872, he was called to fill this office. The call
was accepted and he was duly installed on April 17th ensuing.

Dr. Zabriskie was of Dutch stock, the son of George and
Susan (Romeyn) Zabriskie of New York City, where he was
born April 29, 1832, and where his father was an elder in the
church ministered to by Rev. Samuel H. Cox, D. D. After
graduation at the New York University at the age of eighteen,
he devoted himself for two years to the study of law. But
changing his choice of a profession, he entered upon a course
of study at the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church
in New Brunswick, N. J., on the completion of which, in 1855,
he received a preacher's license. He was ordained at Living-
ston, N. Y., in 1856, as pastor of the Reformed Church in
that place, where he labored three years. Subsequently he
served churches in Coxsackie, Ithaca and Claverack, from
which latter place he came to Saybrook. Here he devoted
himself with singular intensity and success to the work of his
ministry for nearly four years and a half, and until he received

-64-

a call to assume the pastoral charge of the newly organized
Mount Wollaston Church in Quincy, Mass. In October^
1879, having completed three years of service in this latter
field, he offered his resignation. Henceforth until his death,,
for the most part he gave himself, as his delicate health per-
mitted, to literary production. "The Life of Horace Greeley,
as One of a Series of Twelve Great Men," proceeded from his
pen. He devoted a large share of his attention to journaHsm,
as assistant editor for awhile of the Christian Intelligencer ^
and as a much sought for and prized correspondent of that
and other religious papers. In this department of literary
activity he excelled, wielding a facile pen and enriching his-
periods with apt illustrative allusions drawn from a wide
range of reading.

As the pastor of a Congregational Church, he was not "to
the manner 'born." It was a good deal of a change to pass
from a communion in which high-church views with regard
to ministerial prerogative prevailed to simple leadership in a
democratic fraternity. He was not in his element, either as to
his temperament or his training. But whatever of friction
ensued, it was largely canceled by his intense devotion to
pastoral work and by the success of his methods- He threw
himself with all his might into the single effort to bring to
Christ and train for Christian service as many as possible of
the souls for which he was appointed to watch. The young
people largely enlisted his attention, and even the children
were led to feel as they had never felt before, that the Gospel
of Salvation was for them. He did not seem to lay his plans
for a long pastorate, but rather to accomplish what good he
could while God's directing providence continued him upon
this ground. His sermons, while they bore the marks of his
high literary culture, aimed at immediate results. He did not
excel as an extempore speaker. His forte was in the pulpit,
or in direct personal dealings with individuals. He made
much use of neighborhood meetings where hearts could
come close enough to each other for mutual quickening.
Uncle John Vassar, the noted evangehst, assisted him at one
time in a protracted series of meetings with good results.

-65-

The fruits of this brief ministry were comparatively large,
bringing into the church eighty-nine members, this being a
yearly average of twenty. Among those were three young
men, now in the Christian ministry, who have given full
proof of their high calling, and who ascribe, under God, their
impulse towards a consecrated life to the pastor's influence
and teachings. (M.)

Before closing this account, several matters of interest
deserve to be noted. One is that in the second year of Dr.
Zabriskie's ministry, the present organ was procured and put
up in this house of worship. Its first position was in the
gallery. It was afterwards removed to the place it now occu-
pies. The first record of the employment of instrumental
music in public worship here is in a vote passed by the
Society in 1806 to the effect, " That the committee be in-
structed to cause an alley to be cut between the front seat
and the second seat in the west gallery for the accommo-
dation of the bass-viol." Other instruments soon came into
use, more commonly the violin. At the beginning of Rev.
Mr. Crane's ministry the melodeon was introduced, and this
gave place to the cabinet organ, which in turn yielded to the
pipe organ.

Another item of historical interest is the building of the
present chapel or " Conference Room," as it was called,
which was dedicated on the 9th of July, 1875. The school-
houses and private dwellings had been, as a regular custom,
utilized for evening meetings and other social church gather-
ings, except that, for a few years, use had been made, for
these purposes, of the building just across the green from this
sanctuary, originally erected as a Methodist meeting-house,
but now changed into a place of trade with a public hall in
the second story. The present chapel now seems to be an
indispensable equipment for the worship and work of the
church.

It may be also noted that William R. Clark, who had use-
fully held the office of deacon for forty-one years, in 1875
resigned the office and Robert Chapman was chosen in his
place.

—66—

Dr. Zabriskie was married at Coxsackie, N. Y., January 4,
1863, to Maria, daughter of Roswell and Rebecca Reed. His
wife, two daughters and a son survive him. He died at
Princeton, N. J., May 13, 1891.

In the course of our narrative, we next come to the minis-
try of Rev. Richard Bowers Thurston, who, Hke Dr.
Zabriskie, had already made a good record in pastoral work.
He was the son of Richard Thurston, and was born in
Charlestown, Mass., June 28, 18 19, from which place the
family, in 1833, removed to Bangor, Maine. After having
pursued a preparatory course of study at the Bangor High
School, he entered Bowdoin College, where he graduated in
the class of 1841. Subsequently, on completing his theolog-
ical studies at Bangor Seminary, he accepted a call to the
church in Waterville, Maine, where he had a fruitful ministry
of nine years, from November 11, 1846. He served churches
also in Chicopee Falls and Waltham, Mass., the church in
Stamford, Conn., and the Second Church in Fair Haven,
Conn. From this last named church he came to Saybrook,
December 5, 1876; and before the close of the month he
received a call to settle here. Though the call was not for-
mally accepted, he continued his services as acting pastor
until June 19, 1881. Mr. Thurston was a man of scholarly
tastes and of superior ability as a thinker and as a preacher ;
and he earnestly devoted himself to the spiritual tillage of
this parochial field. During his incumbency this house of
worship was thoroughly renovated — the side galleries re-
moved and the pews re-arranged. Near the close of his
ministry, Rev. Rufus Underwood was employed for two
weeks in evangelistic work with results of spiritual quickening
and conversion. Thirty-six additions in all were made to the
church during his ministry of a little more than four and a
half years.

After his retirement from Saybrook, he held the position of
pastor of the church in North Greenwich until, in 1888, after
more than five years of service, he was compelled, by reason
of the failure of his health, to hand in his resignation. From
that time he took up his residence in Stamford, one of his

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former fields of labor, where amidst much suffering attended
by blindness and the loss of his lower limbs made necessary
by embolism, he patiently awaited, with grateful memories of
the past, the glorious issue of his severe trials. He died on
Easter Morning, April 14, 1895, in his seventy-sixth year.
He married. May 24, 1847, Jane Miller Pierce, daughter of
Henry Miller and Susan (Peironnet) Pierce, who survives, as
do also three married daughters.

Upon the next Sabbath after the retirement of Rev. Mr.
Thurston, that is, on June 26, 1 881. the pulpit was supplied
by Mr. Wilson Davidson Sexton, who had just completed
his theological studies at Union Seminary, New York City.
After a few weeks of continuous service, a call was extended
to him to assume the pastoral charge of the church. The
call was accepted, and he was duly ordained and installed
upon the 3d of August following.

Mr. Sexton was a native of the town of Poland, Ohio,
where he was born, May 30, 1853 ; and a graduate of West-
ern Reserve, now Adelbert College, in the class of 1877.
His ministry in Saybrook was brief, lasting only a little more
than three years and four months. But by his earnest and
quickening sermons and his vivacious manners he strongly
<3rew to himself the confidence of this people and gave bright
promise of a useful future. He readily gained the esteem of
his ministerial brethren, and in matters of common concern in
ecclesiastical affairs he proved himself to be an efficient and
discreet actor. It was, therefore, with deep regret on the
part of his congregation and of his acquaintances in this
vicinity, that he felt it to be his duty to accept a call to the
First Presbyterian Church in Salem, Ohio. He preached his
last sermon in this pulpit, December 7, 1884.

His pastorate in Salem of about the same length as that in
Saybrook was sundered by his transference to the charge of
the First Presbyterian Church in Hillsdale, Mich. From
this position, however, after a service of more than seven
years, he was advanced to take the oversight of the Bethany
Presbyterian Church in the city of Detroit, where his labors

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have been greatly blessed in the quickening and enlargement
of the church.

Mr. Sexton was married to Miss Maria Eunice Curtiss^
May 1 8, 1881. One daughter has been born to them.

After a lapse of some four months, Rev. Bernard Paine,
in answer to a call from this Church and Society, entered
upon the pastorate without a formal installation by a council.
He began his work in April, 1885. During the preceding
interval, a quiet and fruitful religious interest was awakened
among the young people — a class of twenty having been
organized and conducted weekly by a retired minister with a
view to special instruction in respect to a religious life.
Some eight of the members of this class united with the
church on the first Sabbath in March. Others from the
same company were gathered in after Mr. Paine began his
labors. This company subsequently enlarged itself into a
general young people's meeting, and at length into a Society
of Christian Endeavor, which has since been maintained with
unflagging vigor, developing the hitherto hidden talents of
the younger church members of both sexes. This society
was tenderly fostered by Mr. Paine, and he found in it a
cooperative element of great value and efficiency.

Mr. Paine was the son of Levi and Clementine Maria
(Leonard) Paine, and was born in East Randolph, Mass.,.
September 11, 1834. His early manhood was given to
teaching, he having qualified himself for this employment
by a course of training at a normal school. He then turned
his thoughts towards the ministry, and after pursuing the
requisite preparatory studies at Dummer Academy, Byfield^
Mass., he entered Dartmouth College, from which he gradu-
ated in the class of 1863. He prosecuted his theological
studies for two years at Union Seminary, New York, and
completed them at Andover in 1866. His first pastoral
charge was at New Bedford, Mass., where he was ordained,
June 6, 1867. His subsequent fields of labor were Foxboro,.
West Barnstable and Sandwich, Mass., from which latter
place he came to Saybrook, where he gave full proof of his
ministry, until his sudden death from heart failure, Monday,.

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June II, 1894. He was buried in East Sandwich, Mass._
Seventy -four persons were admitted to the church during his
incumbency of nine years and two months. A new Church-
Manual was prepared in 1888. Thomas C. Acton, Jr., was
chosen to the diaconate on the resignation of Ozias H.
Kirtland.

Rev. A. W. Hazen, D. D., in an address before the Middle-
sex Conference, after speaking of Mr. Paine in terms of
endearment as a classmate and friend, of his skill as a teacher,
of his loyalty to his college and home, thus refers to him as
" a minister of the grace of God." " You knew his steadfast
loyalty to the truth, to the church, and to the name of Christ.
He was a model pastor, as well as an intelligent, a stimu-
lating and a spiritual preacher. His public prayers were
such as only one who prayed much in private could offer.
The life and death of Bernard Paine seem to me like a great
victory — a victory over self, a victory over the world, a vic-
tory over the last enemy ; and the peace of God is his."

At a meeting of this Church, on the 22d of June after his
death, the following action was unanimously taken :

" It having pleased the Great Head of the Church by a sudden and mys-
terious visitation of his providence to bereave us of our pastor, Rev. Bernard
Paine, we put on record our high appreciation of his efficiency and fidelity
during the more than nine years of his service among us, and our deep sense of
the loss we have suffered in his death. We bear testimony to the singleness of
purpose and the godly sincerity with which he has discharged the duties of his
office, ministering to all classes according to the ability which God gave him.

" We tender our heartfelt sympathy to the bereaved wife and children, and
prayerfully commend them to the all-sufficient Comforter in this hour of heavy
affliction, while we assure them of the affectionate attachment we feel for them
as fellow-members of this Church and this community."

Mr. Paine was married in Boston, December 4, 1867, to
Eliza S. Blossom, daughter of Bennet W. and Abby Blossom
of East Sandwich, Mass. His wife, three daughters and a
son survive him.

The present incumbent of the pastoral office in this Church,
Rev. Edward Everett Bacon, had an experience of some
eighteen years in the ministry before entering this field. He
is the son of Nerval and Janette (Terry) Bacon, and was born*

—70—

in Marshall, Oneida County, N. Y., August i, 1845. His
preparatory studies were pursued at Whitestown Seminary,
Whitesboro, N. Y., whence he passed into Hamilton College,
receiving his bachelor's degree in 1873. He studied theology
at Andover, and during his senior year in that instiution, he
was licensed to preach by the Essex Association, Mass. The
Congregational Church in Norway, Maine, constituted his
first pastoral charge, over which he was ordained September
I3» ^^77- After completing a ministry' of more than three
years, he became pastor of a Congregational Church in West-
brook, Maine, from which position he retired after twelve
years of service. He began his work here, in response to a
call from this Church and Society, on the second Sabbath in
November, 1894. The family at the parsonage includes, in
addition to himself, his wife, Mrs. Clara (Hoppin) Bacon, two
daughters and two sons.

During the incumbency of Mr. Bacon, the Ecclesiastical
Society connected with this church has, by a unanimous
vote, passed over all its interests and rights into the hands of
the church, and has thus ceased to be. The church has been
legally constituted a body politic for the management of its
secular affairs.

Two hundred and fifty years ago when this church was
organized, the inhabitants of the original town of Saybrook
did not probably exceed one hundred souls. To-day the
number within the same limits is not less than twelve
thousand. Forty-seven years passed away before another
church was formed, — that in Old Lyme ; and forty-two
years more elapsed before a church of any denomination
other than Congregational began to conduct Christian
worship, — vaz. : the Baptist Church in Winthrop. Since
then, as the population has increased and become changed
more or less in its denominational preferences, it is no longer
" of one language and one speech." Churches of varying
ecclesiastical order and polity work together on this historic
ground in brotherly harmony, thus dividing among them-
selves the responsibility for caring for the spiritual welfare of

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the people. And where there was once a single feeble
church small in its beginnings, there are now not less than
twenty-nine churches or centers of Christian worship from
which shine forth the rays of Gospel light. (N.)

Here our historical sketch comes to its close. In the
review of the two and a half centuries which it covers, we are
profoundly impressed with the fact of the unbroken con-
tinuity of this Church of Christ. In the perpetually changing
personnel of its membership, it has clung fast to its ever-living
head from whom it derives its inexhaustible vitality. Its
beginnings were nearly coeval with the settlement of this
ancient and historic town and of the commonwealth of which
the town is a constituent part. Without interruption, the
worship of God has here been maintained and the sacraments
of the church observed. From this altar, unceasing prayers
and praises have ascended to heaven. Through the grace of
God, generation after generation has here been ministered
unto in spiritual things, by godly men and women, — parents,
teachers, pastors, exemplars of the principles of the Gospel in
daily life, whether occupying higher or lower social positions,
— who have labored together for the one great object of
gathering into the fold of Christ and building up in Christian
character the souls embraced within this parochial field. And
blessed be God, they have not labored in vain, as we, who
have entered into their labors, can joyfully testify.

It is a thought full of inspiration that we, the present
members of this church, the heirs of these stored-up blessings,
are moving onward in the line of an unbroken procession of
God's people stretching from earth to heaven, whose forward
ranks have long since reached the home of the blessed. The
moral and spiritual lessons to be drawn from the narrative
scarcely require more than a bare suggestion from me, —
instigations to faith in God and His promises, to holy living
to brotherly helpfulness, to increased and enlarged Christian
activity. What the fathers and mothers have achieved in the
past, should be regarded only as stepping-stones to greater
achievements in the future. Only as we raise our standard of

—72 —

Christian fidelity higher and higher as the years move on
shall we wisely build upon these foundations and render this
spiritual structure worthy to continue to be " a habitation of
God through the Spirit."

NOTES.

A. p. 4. As an illustration of the tremulous state of the public mind in
England during the reign of King Charles I, both among Puritan gentlemen of
prominence and among the common people, I cite the following example :
When in 1638 a squadron of eight ships lay near the mouth of the Thames,
ready to set sail for New England, a rumor went abroad that John Pjnn, John
Hampden and Oliver Cromwell were on board of one of the ships with the inten-
tion of joining their distinguished friends of the Warwick company, who were on
the e%'e of departure for their Saybrook plantation, but that, in the execution of
the king's decree prohibiting persons from leaving the kingdom without a special
license, officers of the government compelled them to disembark. This story,
probable enough in itself, but actually founded on mere suspicion, gained such
currency that leading historians — Neal, Hume, Hallam, Robertson and others,
incorporated it into their works. Even the sites have been pointed out in Say-
brook, where their houses were to have been built. The story has been shown
to be unworthy of credit. It has been proved that the fleet, in which they were
said to have taken passage, was delayed but a few days and then proceeded on
the voyage without any diminution of the passengers on board and arrived safely
in Massachusetts Ray. So says Bancroft's History, Vol. I, p. 411. Green calls
it "a doubtful tradition."

B, p. 6. The monument which was erected over the grave of Lady Fenwick
within the precincts of the old fort, has had a disturbed history. The tradition
is that Col. Fenwick, on his hasty departure for England, left it in charge of
Matthew Griswold, as his business agent, to provide a suitable monument to
mark the place of her interment, promising to transmit an appropriate inscription
to be placed upon it. This, however, he neglected to do, by reason of his en-
grossment in the political affairs of the times. A number of years afterwards,
some one inscribed upon the stone the figures " 1648," as if this was the year of
her death, thus perpetuating an error of three years.

Some fifty years ago a devotee of the Roman Catholic Church, apparently with
the design of connecting the name of this excellent Christian, Lady Fenwick,
with that church, procured the chiseling upon her monument of a large cross —
an emblem which was doubtless dear to the deceased as the sjTnbol of her simple
Puritan faith, but one which, in its design of associating her memory with the
•Church of Rome, she would have indignantly repudiated.

The walls of the old fort having fallen by the lapse of time, and thus the
outlines of the enclosure nearly obliterated, and the grounds having been
wanted for railroad purposes, the bones of Lady Fenwick were exhumed in 1870,

—73—

two hundred and twenty-five years after burial, and with solemn Christian rites
deposited in the old cemetery at Saybrook Point. The original monument re-
moved to this new position marks the place of the sacred deposit.

C> p. 8. The practice of medicine by Mr. Peters in addition to the duties of
his chaplaincy was not a singular case, as many of the early ministers of New
England gave more or less attention to the healing of bodily maladies. Dr.
Thomas Pell, who was the " chirurgeon " of Saybrook Fort under the adminis-
tration of Col. Gardiner, was a regularly bred medical practitioner. He is sup-
posed to have been the first one who practised in Connecticut, and for nearly an
hundred years there were very few professional men of his class. Each family
either treated its own sick and wounded members, or called in the advice and
aid of persons who made a business of nursing, or such of their neighbors as had
the reputation of skill in the art of healing. Ministers, as a class, gave more or
less attention to the cure of bodily as well as spiritual maladies. Rev. Gershom
Bulkley, of New London, and afterwards of Wethersfield (1661-1713); Rev.
Phineas Fisk, of Haddam (1714-1738) ; Rev. Jared Elliot, of Killingworth, now
Clinton (1709-1763) ; and Rev. Stephen Holmes, of Pautapaug, now Center-
brook (i 757-1 773), were clerical physicians of note in their day. Whether the
earlier ministers of this church added the practice of medicine to their pastoral
work is not known. They probably did to some extent.

The following is a list of professional physicians who have served this parish
and community :

1. Samuel Elliot, son of Rev. Jared Elliot, of Clinton. He graduated at
Yale College in 1735, studied medicine with his father, settled here as a
" Practitioner of Physic " in 1737. His health failing, he took a sea voyage and
died in Africa, January i, 1741, in his twenty-fifth year. He was engaged to
Mary, daughter of Dea. Joseph Blague, who subsequently married Rev. William
Hart.

2. Augustus Elliot, brother of the preceding. He graduated at Yale in
1740 and succeeded his brother in practice. He died unmarried, November 29,

1747, in his twenty-eighth year.

3. Samuel Field. He became a member of this church in 1750. He was
a graduate of Yale in the class of 1745. He died September 25, 1783, aged 58.

4. Elisha Ely. He was the son of Samuel Ely, of Lyme, and was born in

1748. He settled here probably about 1770 or 1771, and died in 180I. There
is a tradition respecting him that he gave himself largely to the treatment of
small pox and that he stuttered.

5. Samuel Field, a twin son of the before named Dr. Field, baptized by
Rev. Mr. Hart in 1761. He united with this church in 1785. The date of his
death is not known.

6. Samuel Carter was born in Killingworth, July 10, 1779. He entered
upon practice here in September, 1802, and became a member of this church in
1809. He received the honorary degree of M. D. from Yale College in 1822.
In the year 18^5 he removed to Yernon, N. Y., and died there in 1853.

7. Asa PL King was born in New Haven, April 5, 1798. He graduated at
Yale in 1821, and received the degree of M. D. from Bowdoin College in 1824.

—74—

He succeeded Dr. Carter in medical practice and joined this church in 1849.
He died November 20, 1870.

8. John H. Granniss began practice here December i, 1868, after gradu-
ating at the Medical School of Yale University.

D. p. 10. Of the partial list of persons named as having been organized into
the church, several subsequently moved away either to Norwich or to Lyme, or
made their homes outside of the present limits of this parish. Of four or five
who remained within these limits, brief mention may be made.

Robert Chapman came from England when nineteen or twenty years old,
and was a member of the party which, in 1636, under the superintendence of
Lion Gardiner, constructed Saybrook Fort and laid out the plot for the projected
town. He settled down as a resident of Saybrook Point until all his seven
children were born. In 1666 he built his dwelling house in Oyster River
Quarter, where his lands were mostly located, some of which have been occupied
by his descendants up to the present time. The site of his house was a rod or
two west of the present residence of George W. Denison, and upon a pane of
glass in a window there was scratched this couplet :

" In 1636, I here appeared;
In 1666, I this upreared."

He was a prominent figure both in civil and military life. He was Commissioner
for Saybrook for many years, Deputy to the General Court at forty-three sessions
and was chosen Assistant nine times. He was also Captain of the train band.
As an earnestly religious man, his Christian spirit descended as an heirloom in
the family, and while there is a large sprinkling of names among his descendants
prominent in the professions of law and medicine, and in civil office, the gen-
ealogical record of 1854 reports fourteen ministers in the male line, several of
whom are Doctors of Divinity, and deacons too numerous to count. He died
October 13, 1687.

WiLLiA.M BusHNELL, son of John, with five or six brothers, was an early
emigrant from England. Remaining but a short time in Massachusetts, he, with
his brothers Francis and Richard, taking Lcr.g Island on their way, directed
their course to Guilford, Conn., attracted thither probably by their acquaintance
with and relation to some of the settlers in that place and neighborhood, one of
whom was Francis Eushneil, "Ye Elder," who might have been their uncle.
Being carpenters, they were invited to remove to Saybrook by Robert Chapman,
whose sister Rebecca, William had married, their trade being in great demand
in that place. William responded promptly to this call and the birth of his first
child in 1644 is recorded in Saybrook. Having secured lands in the Oyster
River Quarter, he established his homestead about 1666 a short distance west of
Robert Chapman's. It is not certainly known when his brothers left Guilford
for Saybrook, but probably within three or four years. There is a tradition that
Richard came with William. Negotiations were had with Francis about the run-
nmg of the Guilford mill. But the burning of the Saybrook Fopt with the
enclosed and adjoining buildings, in 1647, depriving the settlers of their homes
and place of worship, so emphasized the demand for carpentry work as to furnish
a reason for believing that their removal took place, if not before, soon after the

—75—

conflagration. The tradition is that Francis was chosen a deacon of this church
in 1648. It is positively certain that before the year 1653, he was established as
a resident of Saybrook, as in that year he was appointed an appraiser of certain
property in this town by the General Assembly. William was appointed lieuten-
ant of the train band, was elected Deputy to the General Assembly, and held
other ofifices of trust. Among his descendants who have attained distinction may
be named the late Dr. Horace Bushnell, of Hartford. He died August 11, 1684.

Francis Bushnell, the second of the three brothers, though not one of the
founders of the church, was its second deacon, and a man of prominence,
especially in church affairs. He built the first gristmill, run by water power, in
the town, on or near the site of Robert B. Chalker's present mill, and received a
valuable perquisite of land on condition that he would run the mill for the accom-
modation of the inhabitants. In the family genealogy there are honored names.
He died December 4, 1681, aged 82.

Of Richard, the youngest brother, very little is known, as he was not much in
public life. He died about the year 1658 and was buried in Saybrook, leaving
two sons and two daughters. His widow, Mary by name, who was a daughte-
of Matthew Marvin of Hartford, married Dea. Thomas Adgate, and the family
joined the company which migrated to Norwich in 1660. The present Governor
of Ohio, Hon. Asa S. Bushnell, is one of his descendants.

Lieutenant William Pratt settled in Essex and was a leading man in the
affairs of the Church and in civil and military life. His descendants have held
many prominent positions in this community and abroad.

William Lokd was a son of Thomas Lord, one of Thomas Hooker's com-
pany which settled Hartford in 1635. He was one of the original proprietors of
Saybrook, where he died. May 17, 1678, leaving a large family of children.
Among his descendants are many names of distinction.

In respect to M.\tthew Griswold, who was the ancestor of two Governors
of Connecticut, although he removed to Lyme prior to 1665, it deserves mention
that he retained his connection with this Church until the close of his life, which
occurred September 27, 1698. His body was brought hither for interment. He
was a stanch Congregation alist in principle, and presented to the Church the
first silver cup used in the observance of the Lord's Supper. The inscription
upon it is : " S. C. ex dono domini Matthai Griswoald." The letters " S. C."
are doubtless the initials of Sacramentalis Calix. Translated into English, the
inscription reads, " A Sacramental Cup, as a gift of Mr. Matthew Griswold."

It may be said of William Parker, although he probably was not one of
the founders of the Church, that he was one of the earlier and more prominent
members, and a leading man in the town. He represented the town at seven
sessions of the General Court, and filled other offices.

Among those who became members of the Church, or of the congregation,
within the first half century of its existence, we find the names of Ingham,
Shipman, Huntington, Hosmer, Bull, Clarke, Chalker, Tully, Waterhouse,
Blague, Wastoll, Kirtland, Whittlesey, Willard and Lynde.

E. p. 12. We are here confronted with a strange fact and a strange condi-
tion. It seems hardly supposable that a transaction of so great importance as
the organization of a church should have taken place without a record having

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been made of it. Only twenty-three years have prised, and no records can be
found. There is no probability that they were surreptitiously taken away by the
company that had migrated to Norwich with Mr. Fitch, as has be 3n alleged, as
that company never claimed to be the Church which was here organized in 1646.
The case is like that which has occurred in a multitude of other instances of
ecclesiastical action, in respect to which, modern historians are accustomed to
say, " The records are lost." It is not to be disputed that the'-e is abundant
cause to deplore and blame the carelessness with which the memorials of our
early history have been t»-eated. They have been stowed away among old
rubbish in closets or garrets until destroyed by dampness or vermin, if not sold
for paper rags or used for kindling fires. But did the fathers place that value
upon these records which led them to see that they were properly made and to
provide for their preservation ? In a majority of cases it would seem that they
did not. No blank books were provided for their registration, no place for their
deposit designated, and no registrar appointed either to copy them or care for
them on file. Ministers doubtless kept minutes of baptisms and admissions to
church membership, and of votes passed by their churches. But these were
private papers, which, after the retirement or death of the minister, were either
regarded as family relics, or destroyed as were old account books.

A case in illustration may be cited from the records of the neighboring church
in Chester. Rev. Samuel Mills, the fifih pastor, who left only a record of mar-
riages, states on the fly leaf of ^'le earliest book of church records, under date of
1786, " I find nothing relating to the Church left in writing by the former minis-
ters ; and no proper book was provided until now for the regular recording of
any transactions of a public nature and of this kind," i. e. marriages, " in par-
ticular." Some few of ovu: early churches can show records complete quite back
to their beginnings. The earliest extant records of this Church are of the date
of 1736, the first year of Rev. William Hart's ministry. Ninety years are a
blank, except what may be gleaned from Town and Colony Records, from tradi-
tion, from contemporaneous history and memorial discourses.

F. p. 15. For the names and descriptive notices of the more prominent
families whose ancestors were in the Norwich migration, the reader is referred to
the address of Rev. Charles A. Northrop, pastor of the First Church of Norwich,
given on subsequent pages.

Q. p. 16. Rev. Dr. Leonard Bacon, in his historical discourse delivered at
Norwich at the celebration of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the
General Association of Connecticut, speaking of Rev. Thomas Buckingham,
says, " he appears to have commenced his minis^'-y at Saybrook, not far r,om the
year 1667, when the candlestick had been removed out of i'« place, by the
migration of the Church with its pastor to Norwich. Before 1669, another
Church had been gathered at Saybrook, and soon aftei rt'ards Thomas Bucking-
ham became its pastor." Upon these statements we offer the following remarks :
I. Dr. Bacon evidently accepts the tradition to which the historian Trumbull
gave currency, that " the majority " of the Church of Saybrook removed to
Norwich with Mr. Fitch. 2. As a corollary, he affirms that the organized
church migrated to Norwich, and that this migration necessitated the gathering
of a new church at Saybrook. The majority carried the old organization with it.

—77—

This is good Congregational logic. But if the main premise is disproved or
rendered doubtful, the conclusion falls. There is no evidence that " the ma-
jority " of the Church migrated to Norwich. An unsupported rumor to that
effect became hardened into a tradition, and that tradition was claimed to be
historic fact.

H. p. 22. Does not this tenacity of the brethren with regard to their " right '»
to impose hands in the ordination of their pastors, furnish a clue to the cause of
-the delay in the ordination of Rev. Moses Noyes in Lyme ? There are reasons
for believing that he was, by conviction as well as by training, inclined toward
Presbyterianism. His father, the very excellent Rev. James Noyes, pastor of
the Church in Newbury, Mass. , was very desirous to introduce the Presbyterian
element into the polity of the New England Churches, and wrote in advocacy of
that system. Mr. Noyes of Lyme was recognized as one of the earnest support-
ers of the modified Cong.-egationalism embodied in the Saybrook Platform.
There was an earnest desire both on his own part and on the part of his congre-
gation that the pastoral relation should be established between them. But when
• the connection seemed ready to be formed, there was a recoil. May it not have
been for the reason that the Saybrook contingent among his people, which at
first was controlling, insisted on the " right " of the brethren to ordain their own
pastor ? The organization of the Church and his ordination were consequently
delayed. The lapse of a generation, however, effected such changes in the
personnel of the population that the long wished-for relation was constituted with
I'ttle or no friction.

I. p. 28. It is an interesting fact that the First Church of Norwich has ever
held fast to the strict Congregational polity set forth in the Cambridge Platform.
When the consociational principles embodied in the Saybrook Articles were
endorsed by the General Court and commended to the churches, it refused by
formal vote to adopt them, thus showing its rigid adherence to those views of
pwlity upon which the mother Church was founded, and which itself had carried
away on its removal.

J. p. 29. The following is a copy of the Half-way Covenant as used by
Rev. William Hart, and is probably the same as that used by Mr. Buckingham
and Mr. Mather :

" The Form of renewing the Covenant by those who do not come to Full
Communion.

" I acknowledge it a great favour of heaven to me, that I was devoted to God
by Baptism in my Infancy, & that I have been instructed in my Christian duty'
and priviledges, and that notwithstanding all my careless neglects of and de-
partures from my duty, God is yet waiting on me to be gracious, and continuing
to me the offers of his Covenant Mercy & Grace. I do therefore renew the bap-
tismal Covenant & consecration of myself to God by Jesus Christ, deliberately
and formally resolving and promising before God, by the help of his grace, to
leave the practice of all known sin, and to renounce the Lusts of the world, the
flesh and the devil. I do now avouch & choose the God and father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who made & governs heaven and earth, and all things in them, as
my God and father, and the God of my seed ; and the Lord Jesus Christ who
dyed for the redemption of sinners as my Prophet and Teacher, as my high priest

-78-

and righteous mediator, as my Lord and Saviour, and the Holy Ghost, the Spirit
of the Father for my sanctifier.

" I make choice of Heaven as my final inheritance and the Laws of Christ
as the rule of my life. And that I may be taught and assisted of God to knovr
and practice my duty in all things, I resolve to attend diligently upon the
appointed means of grace, and in particular to give diligence to become satisfyed
of my preparation for the Lord's Supper, and so to come and attend upon it.
I now submit myself to the Watch and Discipline of this Church, beseeching the
prayers of God's people for me, that I may be enabled to perform my vows to
the Lord."

K. p. 29. The old cemetery at Saybrook Point, called also the " Lower
Cemetery," or " Cypress Cemetery," was laid out during the first year of the
settlement, 1636, by Lion Gardiner, being included by him in his plan of the
town plot. The first generation of settlers was buried there, but their graves
cannot be identified. The most ancient stone upon which there is a legible
inscription, with the exception of that which marks the reentombed remains of
Lady Fenwick, is that which bears the name of Susannah, daughter of Nathaniel
Lynde, aged 4^ years, who died in 1685. The " Upper Cemetery," near the
Railroad Junction, was laid out in 1787, by a Committee of the proprietors of
the Town Commons. The " New Cemetery," located between the main street
and the river, was set apart by the town in 1844. The Roman Catholic Ceme-
tery dates back to 1S62.

It is an interesting, but almost incredible, fact, that for one hundred and
seventy-five years after the settlement of Saybrook, the coffins of the dead, except
in the case of children, were laid upon a simple framed bier and borne to the
grave upon men's shoulders. No matter what was the distance to the place of
burial, or how severe was the weather, this last service was regarded as due from
all the acquaintances and fellow-townsmen of the deceased person in the neigh-
borhood, who had strength to render it. This burdensome custom came to its
close November 4, 1812, when Capt. Elisha Hart sent the following communi-
cation to the Committee of the First Ecclesiastical Society of Saybrook, who
presented the same to the Society at its annual meeting for their action :

" Gentletnen — The subscriber not having been permitted to unite with his
neighbors in the burden of the interment of the dead, owing to a dislocated ankle
in early life, and having a desire to contribute to the relief of those who have at
all times so promptly executed the last services due to the dead, he will be
happy to present the parish with a hearse for the above purpose, if it will be
accepted.

" From their obedient servant,

" Elisha Hart."

In response to this generous offer, the Society voted to accept the gift with
thanks, and to build a hearse-house in the upper burying-ground.

L. p. TfT)- These four pews in the gallery gave the Ecclesiastical Society a
deal of trouble. The custom in the seating of the house was, that while the
adults and the children should occupy the ground floor, the young people were
to find accommodation in the galleries — the young women in the east gallery and
the young men in the west. Hence there was this restriction attached to the

—79—

Tenting of these four pews, viz., that the two easternmost ones should be occu-
pied only by females, and the two westernmost by males only. But, in spite of
the restriction, the young men and maidens would get together during the hour
of worship for purposes of social entertainment. The simple restriction proved
unavailing to check the evil ; and, in 1814, more decisive measures were taken.
A division fence was constructed in the passage way or aisle between the two
classes of pews, and the following vote was passed :

" That the pews in the gallery be sold under the following restriction, viz.,
that the females shall not occupy the two westernmost pews, and that the males
shall not occupy the two easternmost pews ; and that ever)- person who shall be
guilty of a breach of the foregoing restriction shall forfeit and pay three dollars
and thirty-four cents for each and every such offence for the use of the Society ;
and the Society Committee are hereby authorized and directed to prosecute
accordingly."

M. p. 65. The following list embraces the names of the ministers who
have been raised up in the families of this Church and congregation. The last
three are those who were brought into the Church under Dr. Zabriskie's
pastorate : Stephen Buckingham, Samuel Whittlesey, Daniel Chapman, Benja-
min Lord, D. D., Daniel Taylor, Joseph Willard, Jedediah Buckingham, Daniel
•Kirtland, Hezekiah Chapman, Isaac Chalker, Ezekiel J. Chapman, Elijah
Blague, Charles Chapman, Harvey Bushnell, Jackson J. Bushnell, Joseph A.
Canfieid, William Champlm, Elias Dudley, Henry A. Bushnell, D. D., John E.
Bushnell, and Edward M. Chapman.

N. p. 71. The population (in 1890) of the several towns which have been
carved out of the original town of Saybrook with their respective grand lists (in
1896) is as follows:

Old Saybrook, Population . . . . 1,484. Grand List, $597,225

Saybrook, Population 1,484. " 679,846

Essex, Population 2,035. " 975-998

Westbrook, Population 874. " 482,623

Chester, Population 1,301. " 482,023

Old Lyme, Population 1,319- " 452,149

Lyme, Population 977. " 266,438

East Lyme, Population 2,048. " 687,387

Towns on the west side of the river, Pop'n. . 7,178. Grand List, $3,217,715

Towns on the east side of the river, Population, 4,344. " 1,405,974

All the towns n,522. " 4,623,689

In this table no account is made of the fact that the territory of East Saybrook
-was originally somewhat less than that which is now included in the three
Lymes.

The following list embraces the churches of the different denominations
■which have been organized within the limits of the original town, on the west
.tside of the river, with the dates of their organization :

— 8o—

1. Old Saybrook, 1646.

2. Centerbrook, 1725.

3. Westbrook, 1726.

4. Chester, 1742.

CONGREGATIONAL.

5. Deep River, 1834.

6. Essex, 1852.

7. Swedish, Deep River, li

1. Winthrop, 1744.

2. Essex, 1811.

1. Essex, 1790.

2. Old Saybrook, 1830.

3. Deep River, 1830.

4. Chester, 1832.

EPISCOPAL.

3. Westbrook, 1892.

1. Westbrook, 1807.

2. Westbrook, 1 841,

3. Deep River, 1856.

1. Chester, 1853.

2. Old Saybrook, 1862.

METHODIST.

Disbanded.

4-

Disbanded.

5-
6.

Essex, 1824.

Old Saybrook, 1837.

Old Saybrook, 1853. Disbanded.

ROMAN CATHOLIC.

3. Essex (Mission), iJ

PRESBYTERIAN.

I. Deep River, 1856. Disbanded.

In the tovsrns of Old Lyme, Lyme and East Lyme, which include the territory-
known as East Saybrook, there are now ten churches, viz., four Congregational,
four Baptist, and two Methodist Churches. The whole number on both sides of
the river at present {1896) is twenty-nine.

— 8i—

THE SALUTATIONS

— OF THE—

FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST,

HARTKORD.

Note. — The First Church of Christ in Hartford, as is made clear by the
Historical Address, stands in an almost parental relation to this church. It was
represented on this occasion by the pastor, Rev. Charles M. Lamson, D. D., with
two delegates in attendance, by appointment of the church. The Rev. Dr.
Lamson in a few words expressed most felicitously the lively interest felt by the
church in this anniversary observance, and then read the following letter of greet-
ing from the pastor emeritus, Rev. Geo. Leon Walker, D. D., who was not able
to be present :

The First Church of Christ, Hartford^ to the First Church of
Christ in Old Say brook — Greeting :

Brethren and Friends — Permit us to extend to you our
cordial salutations in the celebration of this auspicious day.
It gives us great pleasure to remember the special relation-
ships which bind together the old churches of Hartford and
Saybrook and which seem to allow us a peculiar title to
rejoice with you and participate in your anniversary.

We recall the fact of the membership awhile with us of the
estimable Mrs. Alice Fenwick, wife of the founder of Say-
brook Colony, while as yet church privileges were not estab-
lished in your settlement, and the interesting incident of her
bringing her child to Hartford to be baptized by our church's
pastor.

We take satisfaction in the tradition that when, in 1646
your church was organized, our pastor, Mr. Hooker, and our
teacher, Mr. Stone, were present with you on this occasion to
express the fellowship of the Congregational churches in this
almost wilderness land, and that the pastor of your selection

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then set in office, the Rev. James Fitch, whose ability and
piety are among Connecticut's sacred remembrances, was a
beloved student for years here in Hartford with our Mr.
Hooker and Mr. Stone.

It is pleasant for us to know that the impress upon your
pastor's mind respecting the quality of the spiritual life in the
Hartford church was such that, ten years after the death of
the latest surviving of his instructors, Mr. Fitch, in 1676, in a
time of public anxiety in the colony, was led to write in
respect to an appointed public fast : " We intend, God willing,
to take that very day, solemnly to renew our covenant in
church-state, according to the example of Ezra's time, and as
was sometimes practiced in Hartford congregation by Mr.
Stone, not long after Mr. Hooker's death."

And it is not without its interest to us to recall that, at a
considerably later period, on the occasion of that celebrated
Synod which framed the Platform bearing the Saybrook
name, our pastor. Rev. Timothy Woodbridge, united with
your honored pastor. Rev. Thomas Buckingham, in formu-
lating a document which was for so many years the ecclesi-
astical constitution of Connecticut.

And through the many years since that day we have in
various ways recognized and profited by the eminency in
Connecticut affairs of your distinguished ministry ; among
whom, passed to their reward, it may not be invidious to
mention the faithful Azariah Mather, the exceedingly able
William Hart, and the courteous and useful Frederick William
Hotchkiss, not forgetting others, living and dead, who have
been an honor and blessing to you and to the whole common-
wealth.

These associations give us — over and beyond the general
interest which belongs to the honorable history of your
church and its two hundred and fiftieth anniversary — a sense
of somewhat peculiar kinship, and a feeling of special glad-
ness in your joy.

May this anniversary occasion, in all its exercises and
recollections, be one of happiness and lasting benefit to you
all. May the covenant established with the fathers so many

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^generations ago, be fulfilled to you and your children for
generations to come.

The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face
to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up
Ms countenance upon you and give you peace.

By vote and in behalf of the First Church of Christ in
Hartford, July i, 1896.

CHARLES M. LAMSON, \ „ .

GEO. LEON WALKER, Pastor Y.m.,]^^^^^^^-

CHARLES T. WELLS, Clerk.

THE FOUNDERS.

An Address for the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary

— OF THE—

FIRST CHURCH IN OLD SAYBROOK,
JULY I, 1896.

Note. — The Rev. Edward M. Chapman (Associate Pastor of the Central
Church, Worcester, Mass.), is a son of this church, and represents four of the
families of its founders, viz. : Robert Chapman, William Bushnell, William
Pratt, and William Lord.

THE FOUNDERS, 1646.

REV. EDWARD M. CHAPMAN.

-Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentle^nen :

It is not without some slight embarrassment that I attempt
this afternoon the pious task of responding for the Founders
of this Church. The task is literally pious, inasmuch as there
must have been at least four direct ancestors of my own
among that company ; but it is none the less embarrassing

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since I remember the shrewd apothegm of Plutarch, " That it
is indeed a desirable thing to be well descended, but the
glory belongs to our ancestors." Yet it is a very grateful task
withal, and since my time is of the briefest, I will essay it
without further introduction.

I wish that it were possible to present here some picture of
the far-off Saybrook of 1646 which should be at once minute
and graphic. We would give much for authentic portraits of
that group in the Great Hall of the Fort which should reveal
to us the outward seeming of feature, form and dress, of
those from whom so many of us are sprung. But that may
not be, and, for one, I respect them too much to attempt to
be wise beyond what is written ; tricking these worthies out
in shreds of rhetoric and clothing them with vain imaginings.

We may be quite certain, however, that the place of meet-
ing was the Great Hall of the Fort, which had now for some
ten years been the centre of the corporate life of the little
community. Thither, no doubt, on a February day nine
years before. Lion Gardiner and Robert Chapman had
brought the two sorely wounded men, whose retreat from
the neck of land between the coves they had covered with
naked swords, leaving two or three other companions shot
dead with Pequot arrows. From this same Hall one evening,
the Indians tried three times to draw the little garrison, as
Gardiner says, " before we could finish our short supper, for
we had little to eat." But the alarms proved empty in this
particular instance, and there appears to have been some grim
joke about it all, since long after, Gardiner, writing to Robert
Chapman and Thomas Hurlburt, reminded them of the fun
of it. There, too, it may well be, those cheerful souls hatched
what they called " their pretty pranks " during the very mid-
night of the Pequot war, and thither they returned from some
little expedition into what seems to us the very jaws of death,,
laughing so heartily that four and twenty years afterward,
Gardiner remembered and made note of it.

I mention this because there is so common a notion that
the early Connecticut settlers nursed a habit of mind that was
sombre if not morose ; and that they looked out upon the

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new world to which they had come through jaundiced eyes
and crept about in it as though under the impending wrath of
God. There is very much to lead us to believe this notion
to be as false as it is common. It is quite true that these
men and women must have found their life a difficult and
solemn thing. The capture and awful death by torture of
several of their scant company, the unremitting peril that
found significant expression in the fact that even the cows
sometimes came in from Cornfield Point with arrows sticking
in their sides, the annual struggle with the stubborn earth
and the hard winter for means of subsistence, and the dis-
appointment of their expectation of important reinforcement
from England, were circumstances little calculated to minister
to carelessness of life. But they had come from home under
the impulse of distinct religious and political conviction, and
they proved themselves a simple, brave. God-fearing folk, with
little leaning toward the use of cant, so far as we can dis-
cover, but with a very honest and cheerful determination to
make the best of hard conditions. Early letters show
that they had a garden at the Fort, seemingly for pleasure
and adornment as well as for convenience, and that, even
earlier than the date we are commemorating, they had
set out a goodly store of apple and cherry trees — though the
insects were making havoc with the former. But at this time
most of them were poor and immediately dependent upon the
labor of their hands. In turning over some unpublished
manuscripts in the British Museum the other day, I found
several letters from Fenwick to his English friends wherein
he expresses his conviction that the settlement was never
likely to return him the capital which he had invested in it.
Among other things he acknowledges the receipt of " 8 pairs
of the finest woman's stockings," which he had sent to New
Haven to be sold, as they were too fine to be put on here.
By the time the church was organized he had returned to
England. Lady Fenwick had died, probably during the pre-
ceding autumn, but it is likely that her two little daughters
were still at the Fort, though scarcely old enough to be
present at the services in the Great Hall.

—86—

Thus it must have been a fairly homogeneous company of
plain people who recognized that their permanent lot was
cast in the new settlement, that gathered for the solemn act
of organizing a church and ordaining a minister. Concerning
Thomas Hooker of Hartford, who stands among the founders
of New England, and James Fitch, who was that day or-
dained to the ministry and of whom we heard this morning,
I need say nothing. But you will let me introduce to you
Lieut. William Pratt, who had already settled six or eight
miles to the north of the Fort, and who with his neighbors in
their fortified houses formed the nucleus of Centrebrook and
Essex. He was prominent in church and town affairs.

There, too, was Captain Robert Chapman, with his wife,
Anna Bliss. He had come to Saybrook when but eighteen
or nineteen years of age with Lion Gardiner, and for half a
century the story of his life is the history of the settlement.
He helped to build and fortify the Fort; with Gardiner he
marked the town boundaries ; he assisted in organizing the
church ; forty-three times he represented the town in the
General Court, and nine times he was chosen Governor's
assistant ; while to him and Mr. Buckingham belongs the
credit of thwarting Sir Edmund Andros in his attempt to gain
possession of the Fort. It is w^orthy of note that, in con-
nection with his will and that of one of his sons, there appear
the familiar names of Abraham Chalker, Stephen Chalker,
and George Denison.

Side by side with these should be set Lieut. William Bush-
nell, who was from the first an important factor in the life of
church and town. According to tradition, he built the first
meeting-house, and records prove that with his son he built
the second. He also received on one occasion six shillings for
mending the drum which served to call the people together
on Sundays and town-meeting days ; and again ten shillings
six-pence for making pikes, presumably for the eight soldiers
who flanked the meeting-house door. To him and his wife,
Rebecca Chapman Bushnell, were born a family of boys, who
sent down to posterity such men as Dr. Horace Bushnell, the
theologian, Cornelius Stanton Bushnell. whose connection

-87-

with the inventor Erricson made the construction of the
Monitor possible, and the Rev. Professor Samuel Hart.

It is probable, moreover, though not absolutely certain,
that Richard Bushnell, the ancestor of our honored guest, the
Governor of Ohio, was present and participated in the organi-
zation.

There, too, was Thomas Leffingwell, the ancestor of Judge
Nathaniel Shipman of Hartford. He was an ensign at the
Fort during the Pequot war, and his daring exploit in taking
a canoe filled with provisions to the rehef of Uncas when
besieged by the Narragansetts at Shattuck's Point, just below
Norw^ich, forms one of the most romantic incidents in the
early story of the settlement.

Time fails me to speak of others as I would fain do. Yet
I must not forget Deacon Francis Bushnell, who united with
the church soon after its organization. Through the line of
his sons he became the ancestor of the family that has played
so prominent and honorable a part in Saybrook affairs during
the present century ; while among the descendants in the line
of his daughters, were the Rev. Samuel Johnson, President of
King's College ; William Samuel Johnson, first President ot
Columbia College ; the late Chief Justice Hosmer ; and
James B. Hosmer, Esq., the benefactor of Hartford Theo-
logical Seminary.

Nor ought I to neglect Mrs. Thomas Lee, whose husband
had died of small-pox on the voyage from England, leaving
her with three children. Of these, one daughter married
Samuel Hyde at Saybrook in 1659, and became the progeni-
tress of many notabilities, including the present President of
the United States.

But since any list, however long drawn out, must yet
remain incomplete, I had best stop here, mentioning only the
names of Thomas Adgate, William Lord, Thomas Bliss,
Robert Lay, Lieut. Thomas Tracy, and their wives, while
Matthew Griswold, William Parker, and Reynold Marvin
were probably, though not certainly, present. It is a roll of
unpretentious but wholly honorable names. And if to-day
we were to begin life again, choosing, as Dr. Holmes used ta

say every man ought to choose, his own grandparents, I, for
one, know of none to whom I would more gladly trace my
ancestry. It may not be amiss, however, while we honor
these memories and congratulate ourselves upon our heri-
tage, to recall those old lines from " Young's Night
Thoughts," which I suppose no one reads to-day :

" They that on glorious ancestors enlarge,
Produce their debt instead of their discharge."

THE FIRST CHURCH OF NORWICH.

(ORGANIZED FROM THIS CHURCH IN i66j.)

BY REV. CHAS. A. NORTHROP, PASTOR.

Venerable Mother :

The circumstances which led to the founding of Norwich,
if not " imperious " were certainly attractive enough. Prom-
ising as Saybrook was, it was not as wc think, the land of
promise. Our Moses (yours and ours), Major Mason, had
aforetime learned and seen that the land of Mohegan was a
land of brooks and mountains, well watered and fertile ; a
land which the Lord our God seemed to smile upon ; and he
had Joshua for his minister. Him, therefore, he took, the
holy warrior with the sword of the Spirit ever girt on his
thigh, the revered James Fitch, and with them went, accord-
ing to the monumental truth cut into the tablet that still
marks the minister's grave, — " the greater part of his church."

I am here to-day, with all the gray hairs I can command,
a representative of that colony, to recall and recount to you
the five points in the history of your first-born which you

-89-

-may be most interested to know. I want to speak, in the
briefest way consistent with clearness, of: I. The Proprietors;
II. Their Incoming; III. Their Ongoing; IV. Their Out-
going; V. Their Legacy.

I. The Proprietors were men in the prime of life. Samuel
Hyde was 23; Simon Huntington, 31; John Birchard, 32 ;
John Olmstead and John Post, 34 ; Thomas Leffingwell
and James Fitch, 38 ; Thomas Adgate, 40 ; Thomas Tracy,
50; Hugh Calkins and John Mason, 60. The character of
the men you sent us was the chief cause of the peace and
prosperity that have been ours from the first. Fitch was
learned, zealous, beloved by Englishmen and Indians. Mason
^vas stern, self-reliant, honorable and honored. Hyde and
Huntington and Leffingwell and Tracy were of good stock.
Adgate, our Melchizedec, " without father or mother, without
beginning of days," so far as it is knowji, but whose years did
have an end after numbering eighty-seven, came to us deacon,
beginning, with that all-around Welshman, Hugh Calkins,
that somewhat remarkable succession of deacons in our
-church, so largely monopolized by men of the Huntington
name. The Adgates, father and son, served as deacons
eighty-nine years. Seven Huntingtons have held the dia-
conate 201 out of 236 years, while others of the same name
have been progenitors of like successions in other churches.

The 'founders of Norwich were men of good family and
of good principles ; from the respectable middle classes of
England, with a dash or two of aristocracy ; capable and
diligent in business ; in comfortable circumstances. They
came to work. They were wheelwrights, and millers, and
merchants, and surveyors, and shoemakers, and brewers, and
tanners, and cutlers, and stone-cutters, and carpenters, and
farmers. The fact that some of them could not write their
names, did not prevent them from making a name. If " Old
Goodman Hide" could only make his mark in acknowledging
a receipt, he did leave one son, Samuel, who, dying at the age
of 40, left five sons and two daughters. These five sons had
^orty children, twenty-three of them sons, of whom twenty-
one married and reared families. If Deacon Calkins was

—90—

obliged or preferred to write a big X for his name, he was-
a man of diversified talent and a wide range of information.

The departure of these men from Saybrook weakened, but
did not destroy, the life of the mother church. Saybrook
influence overshadowed and undergirded the new church
colony for over a century, for all it would have none of the
Saybrook Platform. Fitch and Woodward and Lord, serving
in its ministry for 124 years, made it impossible that Norwich
could forget Saybrook. Fitch, our first minister, was your
first. Woodward was a scribe of the Saybrook Synod. The
year before Fitch died, a blue-eyed boy was born in Say-
brook, called Benjamin, "the son of my right hand," who
afterwards became to the new colony what his name implied,
acting as a mediator more than once in the church, divided
and distressed over Woodward's Saybrook Platform pro-
clivities and over the New Light excitement of a few 3^ears
later. Dr. Benjamin Lord brought peace in his day, changed
a Marah and a Meribah into a Salem, and deepened our
affection for mother Saybrook. Interchange by marriage and
mutual acquaintance appropriately kept alive your proprie-
tary rights to loving remembrance and loyal affection. Dr.
Lord, himself, was a nephew of the first child born in the new
settlement, — Elizabeth Hyde.

I might add, also, that as our third pastor was born in
Saybrook, so was the third pastor of the Second Society of
Norwich (now Franklin), — Dr. Samuel Nott (1754-1852).
Two years before Dr. Lord was ordered home. Dr. Nott was
ordained (1782) at Franklin, and continued his ministry until
1852. So that out of Saybrook has come a healing ministry
of almost 200 years.

2. Their Incoming. They came not as conquerors, but as
purchasers. The nine-mile square which they bought of the
Mohegan sachems they paid for. They allotted the land and
proceeded to occupy it. They came by families, — after due
preparation. So busy were they in moving and improving,
that they neglected to do and record many things which we
of to-day would gladly know. About the only certainty of
these early days is that they came. They did not know, them-

—91—

selves, a little later, where their possessions lay. They were
not adventurers, and so had few quarrels. They were men
with families, many of them. There were more children than
parents in the new colony. The two leaders had given
hostages to fortune to the value of thirteen children between
them, — afterwards increased to twenty-one.

There was order and organization. Soon after their comings
they, along with others, " were incorporated into a Religious
Society and Church-State." Their state was meant to be
Christian. Their church was in and for society. It mattered
not whether they said church or society. They meant the
same thing. The three primary, fundamental social organiza-
tions were all here, — Family, Church, State.

For sixty years, town and church affairs were recorded
together. After that, the church records were called, " Town
Plot Society Records." The town clerk was generally the
church clerk.

3. Their Ongoing. My thought will carry us only to the
close of Dr. Lord's life, 1784, — one hundred and twenty-four
years after the settlement.

Statewise. Coming in as planters, both of the soil and the
new church-state, they, in general, led quiet and peaceable
lives, with some godliness and much honesty. They were at
peace with the Indians, singularly free from surprises and
massacres such as befell other settlements in New England.
They held offices, and held on to them. They believed in
Civil Service Reform. They seem to have had good men in
office, and they kept them in. For eighty years the town
offices were limited to the families of the first proprietors.
John Birchard was town clerk for eighteen years, probably
with a Saybrook experience behind him ; Richard Bushnell,
for thirty years. Six generations of Huntingtons held the
town clerkship for one hundred and fifty-two years (1678-
1830) — with the single exception of one year, and then a
Tracy got it (Samuel Tracy, 1770). They re-elected again
and again their deputies to the General Court. Richard
Bushnell, Deacon Adgate's step-son, who went to Norwich,
a boy of eight years, was a phenomenon in this and many

—92—

other respects. He served thirty-eight sessions in the General
Court, and seems to have been always in some public office.
He was townsman, and constable, and schoolmaster ; sergeant,
lieutenant and captain of the train band, town agent, justice of
the peace, clerk and Speaker of the House, for many years.
He is living to-day — Richard Bushnell, of Norwich, still
holding public office.

Laborious and frugal, the proprietors bequeathed property.
Homesteads remained in the family for nearly a hundred
years. The second generation were fairly well to do. They
were alive to trade. At Dr. Lord's death (1784) twenty
business enterprises, with Col. Christopher Leffingwell as
versatile chief, were in operation around the town plot. They
opened up the way to the " Landing," and began to go down
to the sea in ships.

Nor were they less patriotic. The same Col. Leffingwell,
who excelled as a merchant and manufacturer, was also chief
among the Revolutionary Committee of Correspondence in
1775, and shared with the Huntingtons the admiration of his
town, and the thanks of his country for his distinguished
military services.

As to their ongoings in the matter of marriage and off-
spring, the record of "Old Goodman Hide" before mentioned,
was not very exceptional. The proprietors and their early
descendants, while not polygamists, had generally two wives,
sometimes three, rarely four. Widows remarried then as
now, without exciting much remark. The interlacing, twist-
ing, and double twisting of family lines made a cord which
could not easily be broken. Each man's neighbor was his
relative. They lived to a good old age, and saw their
children's children, and peace upon the new Israel. Of the
first proprietors, when they died, Thomas Leffingwell was
92 ; Dea. Calkins, 90 ; Dea. Adgate, 87 ; Thomas Bingham,
88 ; James Fitch, 80 ; Simon Huntington, yj ; Richard
Bushnell and Thomas Tracy, 75 ; John Birchard, 72 ; John
Mason, 72.

To learning they gave little heed. The early schools were
few and of short terms. In 1700 Norwich was indicted by

—93—

■4he courts " for want of a school to instruct children." Just
-after Dr. Lord's death, the real educational movement began,
■which has in these late days culminated in Norwich's justly-
admired system of schools.

Churchwise. These men and citizens were also church
•men. Ecclesiastical interests were always dear. They built
a church, and then another, and another, and another, and we
•of to-day are worshiping in another, which has served us
ininety-five years.

For many years, the church on the hill was the only meet-
ing-house in the nine-mile square. The second society
i(Franklin) was not formed until 171 8. Mr. Fitch's parish
covered the nine -mile square, and parts of Windham and
•Canterbury. At Dr. Lord's death, there were eight Congre-
gational Churches, five separate churches, and one Episcopal
•Church in the same territory.

Ecclesiastical polity was also dear to our fathers. A certain
marked jealousy of external authority has characterized the
church from the first. It inherited from its minister and first
;pastor, a feeling toward those that are without, like to that
which led, at the Saybrook ordination of Mr. Fitch, to the
imposition of hands by a presbytery of the church, rather
than by the young pastor's ecclesiastical instructors, Messrs.
Hooker and Stone. Our second pastor, because an advocate of
the Saybrook Platform, which more than squinted at ecclesi-
astical oversight, could not be a comforter, and there was no
peace until Woodward left. The ordination of Dr. Lord
furnished an occasion for the church to explicitly renounce
the Saybrook Platform as their code of faith, and about that
time the church set forth a statement of the " Principles and
J^olity of Congregationalism," which has been printed in all
i-tts successive manuals, the first section of which, as to " the
power of the church," contains extracts from the Cambridge
Platform of 1648.

As to religious life, it must be remembered that the years
11660-1740 were years of spiritual declension in New England.
'The half-way covenant, which the Norwich church adopted,
>was worse than the Saybrook Platform, which it would not

—94—

adopt ; and so the growth of the church in members and
spiritual strength was hampered. It mattered little that the
same families that for eighty years had ruled the little com-
munity in civil affairs, were getting their children baptized^
and they in turn were bringing theirs to the altar. It did not
mean sacrifice. The broken heart and contrite spirit were
wanting.

Mr. Fitch's successor found a church of thirty-five members.
When Dr. Lord came (17 17), the church numbered sixty.
Three hundred and thirty were added during the next half
century. Dr. Lord was friendly to revivals. Twenty years
before the great awakening, his own church was blessed with
a work of grace, and quickened spiritual interest along the
years prepared the way for greater results when Edwards-
began and Whitfield and others continued the work that
stirred, and sifted, and separated, and united the New England:
churches. New London County was a hot-bed of " New
Light " excitement. Norwich seems to have been the storm-
center of the movement. The storm passed. The air cleared..
The influence, on the whole, was good. Spiritual and ecclesi-
astical freedom, and the reality of conversion as compared'
with the vagueness of "owning the covenant," were the lasting
fruits. It was the beginning of the disestablishment of the
State Church. The voluntary system came in as Dr. Lord
passed away, and cleared the ground for the larger exercise-
of the missionary activity which the church inherited from its-
first pastor. The touch of John Eliot in old England, seems
to have been upon Pastor Fitch in New England. Fitch
sowed to the Mohegans, and reaped liKamson Occum and!
Wheelock's Indian School at Lebanon. Out of that school
came Samuel Kirkland, and sowed to the Oneidas for nearly
Haifa century, and gave a son to the presidency of Harvard
(J. T. Kirkland, D. D., LL. D., 1810-28). And when the
modern missionary movement sprang up, it found most
fertile soil along the Thames and the Yantic.

4. Their Outgoing. They met in Norwich only to stay-
awhile, and then they moved outward and onward. The

—95—

leaders set the pace. Mason's sons, most of them, settled
beyond the nine-mile square. From Stonington to Lebanon
they were found. A widow of his grandson, Daniel, became,
by way of Haddam influences, the mother of David Brainerd.
Fitch's family, like a cedar of Lebanon, sent out lateral
branches from its Lebanon home, and spanned the stretch
from Montville to Pomfret. The Adgates and Calkinses took
an early flight. The Backuses sent forth Rev. Isaac, the
separatist ; Rev. Charles, the wisest man whom Dr. Dwight
knew ; Rev. Azel, the first president of Hamilton College,
and James, the surveyor of Marietta : and the name of
William W. survives in the magnificent hospital erected near
the first landing place of the fathers. The Huntingtons were
■everywhere, from the first. Their line went out unto all the
earth, their words to the ends of the world. Dea. Christo-
pher, the first son born in the new settlement, became grand-
father to Dr. Wheelock, first president of Dartmouth College.
His brother John's daughter, Martha, became ancestress of
«U. S. Grant. Baby Elizabeth Hyde, the first daughter of the
settlement, became ancestress of two and one-third octavo
pages of distinguished men and women, as recorded in the
" Norwich Jubilee," from the lips of Chancellor Walworth.
The Leffingvvells remained, for the most part, within the
bounds of the original purchase. Their name survives in a
district called Leffingwell-town.

The coming of peace after the Revolution, the opening up
•of roads and other means of communication, the beginning of
newspapers, post-offices, and cities, — all these served to
quicken the outflowing tide, just as this record stops.

5. Their Legacy. They left what are now five towns, and
parts of two others, — all pieces of the nine-mile square, viz.:
Bozrah, Franklin, Lisbon, Sprague, Norwich, Griswold, Pres-
ton, while Lebanon, Windham, Mansfield, Canterbury and
Plainfield, drew a large part of their first settlers from the
Norwich colony. Along the Yantic and Shetucket, and
Quinebaug, they built their homes, and built them into the
social, and civil, and religious life of the community.

-96-

They left moral influences — thrift, and neighborly kindness,^
and order, and intelligence, and patriotism were wrought
into the life of their descendants.

They left religious influences — churches of their own order
commanded the hill-tops of the new towns, and the lives of
the dwellers between. Other churches of our common Lord
were springing up here and there. Respect and love for the
church was a growing seed, which, after the awakening,,
began to put forth fruit. The Revolutionary War stunted,
but did not starve it. The revival at the opening of this-
century repaired it.

They left good men, who entered into their labors, and'
inviting fields for others to enter, and though now the roll of
the old First Church of Norwich contains the name of no
Adgate, or Calkins, or Tracy, or Leffingwell, or Post, or
Olmstead, the names of Backus, and Bingham, and Birchard^
and Huntington, and Hyde, do appear, the Hydes predomi-
nating in numbers as aforetime.

To-day, as at the first, most of the heads of families are
farmers or wage earners. It takes more to go around than it-
used to. Our first three pastors covered one hundred andi
twenty-four years. Our last six cover one hundred and
twelve years. We shall never have another Benjamin Lord,,
ministering sixty-seven years. For awhile the length oT
ministerial service shortened — Strong, 56 years ; Arms, 46 ;.
Everest, 7; Scofield, 2. Of late the tide has turned. Weitzel^
10; Northrop, 11, may or may not be ominous for good.
But we cannot forget the earlier days. Bimonthly we cele-
brate the Lord's Supper with cups that were in use in Dr..
Lord's day in the church on the hill (1722); and this address,
might have been read to you from between the covers of Dr.-
Lord's sermon case. If you will not misunderstand us, we
may add that we shall never forget the rock from which we-
were hewn, nor the hole of the pit from which we were
digged.

A plain substantial monument stands on the site of the old'
first burying-ground of the Norwich Colony. It bears on its
base the name Mason, while on the four sides of the shaft are

—97—

cut the names of those who were associated with him in the
founding of Norwich, There are thirty-eight names. It has
stood there less than thirty-eight years. It was the out-
growth of our bi-centennial in 1859. With our revived and
reviving interest in the ancient times, our children are begin-
ning to say unto us : " What mean ye by this stone ? " and
we are learning how to tell them the story which has been, in
part, just told.

We have in mind a worthier memorial of the Saybrook—
Norwich men of 1660; a memorial which we expect to erect
on the Green in 1959, when we trust you will be present with
us to help us worthily celebrate the 300th birthday anni-
versary of your first-born child.

CONNECTICUT EMIGRATION TO OHIO
AND ITS RESULTS.

HON. ASA S. BUSHNELL, GOVERNOR OF OHIO.

Note. — Gov. Bushnell is a descendant of Richard Bushnell, the youngest of
the three Bushnell brothers, who were prominent in the early history of this
church and town.

Air. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends :

I am profoundly grateful for the privilege I enjoy of
meeting with you here on this most auspicious occasion, —
grateful to your committee of arrangements for inviting me,
and grateful to a kind Providence for giving me health and
strength to make the journey, and for so arranging affairs of
state as that official duties were not permitted to interfere
with my taking part with you in the exercises of this most
interesting celebration of the two hundred and fiftieth anni-
versary of the founding of this First Church in this good old

-98-

town of Saybrook. In the days when our ancestors wor-
shiped here, it would have required a pilgrimage of several
weeks to have reached the settlement from whence I come ;
but now, with the modern conveniences of travel, but little
more than twenty-four hours is required to cover the space ;
and I assure you, even if the occasion were less deserving, I
would travel a distance requiring much more time to meet a
gathering like this, and esteem it only pleasure. In the
olden time it was customary on occasions for thanksgiving
and rejoicing for the children to come home and gather
round the hearthstone, and there, with the parents, join in
prayers of thanksgiving and songs of praise. And believing
and glorying in this custom of my forefathers, I deem it
fitting that Ohio, the daughter of this grand old common-
wealth of Connecticut, should, in this day of your rejoicing
for the blessings of the Church, come home, and around the
altar of this First Church join with you in praising Father,
Son and Holy Ghost ; and for that purpose, my brethren, I
am here to-day ; as Chief Executive of the great State of
Ohio, I bring you most cordial greetings and messages of
love and peace.

I have been asked to say a few words in reference to Con-
necticut emigration to Ohio and its results. The subject is
one of great interest, and I might say almost inexhaustible ;
but I will be brief and touch upon a few only of the most
important events connected with my subject.

On the first of January, 1788, there left Hartford a com-
pany of about twenty-five citizens under Gen. Rufus Putnam
to meet a like number of hardy pioneers from Massachusetts
bound for the Northwest Territory, which had left Danvers
under the supervision of Major Halfield White, at Simrall's
Ferry, a point on the Youghiogheny thirty miles below
where Pittsburgh now stands, and from there to proceed to
the mouth of the Muskingum, in which was then the North-
west Territory. Their journey over the mountains where the
foot of the white man never trod before, their dangerous and
painful marches through almost impassable snows, have
scarcely a parallel in American history.

—99—

The two parties met at Simrall's Ferry and proceeded
down the Ohio to the mouth of the Muskingum. They
built a boat forty-five feet long and fifteen feet wide, strong,
bullet-proof, and, true to the memory of their forefathers,
named it the Ma3'flower. She was launched on the second
day of April; with Captain Jonathan Dev^ol in command, they
started on their journey. On the 7th of April, 1788, they
landed in the rain at the mouth of the Muskingum River,
and thus the foundations of Ohio were laid. It has always
been a source of pride to me that one of that band of
pioneers who left the village which has since become your
beautiful city of Hartford, was my great uncle, Daniel Bush-
nell, and I congratulate myself that I to this extent aided in
the settlement of Ohio, and that the name has been an
honored one in that new commonwealth as well as in this
grand old State of Connecticut.

The settlers who landed at Marietta at the mouth of the
Muskingum on that seventh day of April, 1788. were con-
scientious people and brought with them industry and knowl-
edge, religion and government. They were the proper
pioneers of that great State. The directors of the company
requested the settlers to pay as early attention as possible to
the education of the youth, and among the first enterprises of
the pioneers was a library. Such were the spirits that
founded Ohio.

" Fresh from the Revolution's fire

They came to hew the Empire's way
Through trackless wastes, and to inspire
The sunlight of young Freedom's day."

And they founded a peerless State, after which came four
others, all standing resplendent as the stars on the blue field
of our country's flag — that grand old banner our grandsires
lifted up and our fathers bore through many a battle's
tempest — what God has woven in his loom let no man rend
in twain.

These brave men and women, still filled with the courage
•of '76, were equal to the task before them. The\' felled the

95374

— 100 —

trees of the forests and built their homes. They endured
hardships that only men and women would be willing to
suffer for the sake of conscience, homes and liberty. Many
of them were personal friends of Washington, and in a letter
written the same year he said of them, " No colony in-
America was ever settled under such favorable auspices as
that which has just been commenced at the mouth of the
Muskingum. I know many of the settlers personally, and
there were never men better calculated to promote the welfare
of such a community. If I were a young man just beginning
life, or had a family to make provision for, I know of no
country where I should rather fix my habitation."

The first laws of the colony were made by the resident
Directors, and were published by being posted on a beech
tree. It stands as a credit to the good name of the early
settlers, that during the period from the time of their landing^
until the arrival of Gov. St. Clair, the first and only Governor
of the Territory of the Northwest, but one dispute among
them is recorded, and that was settled without the interven-
tion of law. Afterward judges were appointed of good sense
and character, and they composed the legislative council of
the Governor. Major-Gen. Samuel Holden Parsons, of Con-
necticut, was the first Chief Justice.

Eight years later, in the interests of the Connecticut Land
Company, a business combination of hopeful New England-
ers, who purchased from their State land on the south shore
of Lake Erie, known as New Connecticut, or the Western
Reserve, Moses Cleveland, at the head of a band of pioneers,
left their homes in June, 1796, for New Connecticut. The
management of affairs was left to Moses Cleveland, lawyer,
law-maker, soldier, a sturdy, faithful, well-disposed New
Englander, a man of whom Hon. C. Rice has said : " He
was of few words and prompt action." His firmness and
honesty were the outgrowth of Puritanism, and as rigid as it
was pure.

This band of pioneers for the Western Reserve experienced
hardships by the way, but they arrived safely at Buffalo-
Creek and landed at the terminus of an Indian trail. They

— lOI —

mounted the hill, and on the 22d day of July the first stone
in the foundation of the city of Cleveland was laid. From
modern Cleveland to Moses Cleveland seems a long step, but
that builder of cities himself prophesied what has been long
since fulfilled. Upon his return from the valley of Cuyahoga
in the fall of 1796, he said to the grandmother of Judge
Rufus P. Spaulding, " While I was in New Connecticut, I
laid out a town on the bank of Lake Erie which was called
by my name, and I believe the child is now born that may
live to see a place as large as old Windham."

The direct work of Moses Cleveland, in connection with
the founding of the city of Cleveland, may be briefly stated.
He was one of the moving spirits in the Connecticut Land
Company that purchased these lands for settlement. He
safely led the first surveying expedition from Connecticut to
the Western Reserve. He made a compact with the Indians^
and with a great deal of diplomacy and a small sum of money-
secured to the settlers of the Reserve a place the value of
which cannot be estimated. He selected the site of the city
of Cleveland, and superintended the laying out of its main
points. He led his expedition safely home, and resigned the
honors and authority of the future to others. He doubtless
had a good share of influence with the directors of the Land
Company in persuading them to continue the work which he
had commenced. The early settlers, the men who laid the
foundations of the present magnificent city of Cleveland, with
the instinct of home-making and home-building, which is so
strong in the Anglo-Saxon race, pushed their enterprise
forward with true Yankee grit, and here in the wilds of this
new country these hardy pioneers did not forget their former
homes and the names of the towns they loved in the grand
old State from whence they came, and we have to-day in the
portion of our State that then comprised New Connecticut^
the towns of Saybrook — namesake of this beautiful and his-
toric town of yours ; New Lyme, daughter of Old Lyme,
your near neighbor ; Hartford — named for the chief city
of your State, and these towns, proud of their origin, are

— 102 —

pushing forward and are among the most enterprising and
promising towns in that section of our State.

Gideon G. Garner, Postmaster-General of the United
States, with a Httle party of friends, down by the bank of
the lake in the village of Cleveland, in 1805, uttered the
following words : " In fifty years an extensive city will
occupy these grounds and vessels will sail directly into the
Atlantic Ocean." How well this prophecy was fulfilled. I
have but to state that in 1858 a vessel w^as sent from Cleve-
land harbor with a store of grain and lumber. It made its
way by the Welland Canal, the St. Lawrence River, across to
England and back with a cargo of iron, salt and crockery
ware. Seven years after the founding of this city of New
Connecticut by Moses Cleveland, Ohio, the first State formed
out of the Northwest Territory, was admitted to the Union,
and the act of Congress admitting her to the Union was as
great in its results and abundant fruition as perhaps any act
of the American Congress.

This is a brief mention of Connecticut's emigration to Ohio.
The results are too great and far-reaching to be described or
even enumerated in the time allotted me ; but I may speak of
a few of them. First, it was the founding of a great free
State in the very heart of the Nation, a State of five times the
area and now five times the population of the Mother State ;
and besides this nearly a million of her children now have
their homes in States west of her boundaries. It gave to the
Nation a State the patriotism and loyalty of which has been
equal to any other in every struggle. One-eighth of the
great army that fought for the preservation of the Union and
the honor of the flag from '61 to '65 was from Ohio. The
heroic character of her sons and daughters, signally shown
by the eminent leaders she has produced in every department,
will remain an imperishable inspiration ; and the heroic and
honorable character of these sons and daughters came from
the noble character of their ancestors — the early settlers from
Connecticut. Another result of the emigration from Con-
necticut to Ohio was the founding of a State on the great-
highway over which the commerce and travel of the nation

— 103—

must flow, giving her people opportunity to mingle for inter-
change and broadening of ideas. Her soil of the richest, and
no one industry predominating to give her citizens a one-
sided development — agriculture, manufacture, mining and
commerce are so equally divided, that she may be said to be
the most evenly balanced State in the Union ; and to this
should be added, prominence in education. The establish-
ment of schools early engaged the attention of the pioneers
from Connecticut, and by them was laid the foundation of
that immense structure — the school system of Ohio, which is
second to none in our land and in many features leading all
others. There are now about 25,000 teachers and 700,000
pupils engaged in the educational institutions of our State.
The large number of colleges, cheap and accessible every-
where, have given multitudes the prime requisite of the
higher education, which is mental discipline and the use of
the instruments of knowledge. In instructors in learning,.
Ohio has produced a host, and to-day, in the department of
religion, she shows an unsurpassed spirit of Christian enter-
prise and self-sacrifice, leading all the States in the number of
missionaries to heathen lands.

These are results of Connecticut emigration to Ohio, and, in
addition, that emigration was the establishment of the first
settlement in the Northwest Territory, from which in a little
more than a hundred years has grown five of the grandest
commonwealths of the nation.

That Ohio is as great as she is, is because she was born
great, and the people of Connecticut, of the present, have a
right to be proud of the part their ancestors took in founding
the settlement of that now magnificent commonwealth.

Connecticut, which has been so prominent in all great
affairs of state, has been none the less so in matters of church.
The Episcopal Church, of which I am now a member (though
formerly a Congregationalist, and probably should still have
been except for the influence of the better part of the family)
looks back with gratitude and thankful heart to the beginning
of her American Historic Episcopate upon the soil of grand
old Connecticut, where, after the Revolutionary War, the

— 104 —

ministers and people of her fold were discouraged and sepa-
rated by three thousand miles of water from the See City of
the Bishop of London. In vain did she beg of the English
fathers to give her a bishop of her own, and finally, after the
Rev. Samuel Seabury had been elected by the church people
in Connecticut as their bishop, and had gone to England for
consecration and been refused, he turned to the Episcopal
Church in Scotland and obtained the boon so earnestly desired,
and on November 14, 1784, at Aberdeen, Scotland, by three
Scottish bishops, the succession was obtained for the long-
suffering, patient and patriotic American Episcopalians, by the
prayers and perseverance of our stanch old brothers in Con-
necticut ; and thus was your grand old State instrumental
in founding permanently on the soil of America this great
Protestant denomination. Truly may it be said of this goodly
commonwealth :

She lives for every cause that lacks assistance,
For every wrong that needs resistance,
For the future in the distance,
And the good that she can do.

And now, Ohio, first-born of the Sisterhood of the North-
west, with her glorious history and unparalleled record of
great ones — warrior and statesmen — given the nation, comes
to greet you, and with pride acknowledges her parentage, and
devoutly asks that blessings abundant may rest upon the
mother that gave her birth, and peace and plenty abide with
her alway.

— los—
THE FIRST CHURCH OF OLD LYME.

(ORGANIZED FROM THIS CHURCH IN 1693.)

BY REV. ARTHUR SHIRLEY, PASTOR.

The church in Old Lyme joins heartily in the congratu-
lations extended to the church in Old Saybrook on this
auspicious occasion. We are separated from you b}' the
silvery stream of the Connecticut River, but we are joined to
you by bands of steel. The founders of our church pushed
over into the eastern wilderness, but they erected their meet-
ing-house on the brow of a hill from which they could look
and listen and watch over their brothers on this side with
friendly interest. And at the present time, when, through the
Sabbath stillness or the quiet evening air, the church-bell of
Saybrook sends it melodious tones abroad, the people across
the river often gather with you in spirit, for the Sunday
service or the week-day conference. We went out from you,
not because we were not of you, but simply as the growing
birdlings leave the nest when it becomes full to overflowing.

Those two forces which hold the celestial spheres in their
orbits — the centrifugal and the centripetal — have been ac-
cepted as the governing principles of the Congregational
polity — Independence and Fellowship — and they are remark-
ably illustrated in our colonial history. It is surprising how
soon the New England colonists felt crowded. Hooker and
the church at Newtown petitioned for leave to remove to
Connecticut in 1634, on account of want of pasturage for their
cattle ; " and it was alleged by Mr. Hooker as a fundamental
error that the towns were set so near to each other." It was
only ten years after the landing at Plymouth Rock that the
Pilgrims began to spread abroad from Burial Hill and Leyden
Street. Capt. Miles Standish and his lieutenant, John Alden,

— io6 —

Elder Brewster and his sons, and Winslow and his brothers^
crossed over the bay to Captain's Hill and built cottages in
Duxbury and Marshfield. On the spot where John Alden
built, his children of the eighth generation are living to-day.
The departure of these leading men was naturally dishearten-
ing to their old comrade. Gov. Bradford, and those who
stayed by him in the old home; they thought the population
all too small at best, and it was enacted by the " Court of the
People " that those colonists who should build houses outside
the town limits, for the convenience of grazing or farmings
should return to town at the beginning of winter, and should
abide there until spring ; also, that they should, week by
week, come into town to attend divine service on the Lord's
Day.

There is something very pathetic in this effort of the lonely
Plymouth remnant to hold on to the fellowship of their
swarming brethren ; but new communities must make their
own laws and live their own lives, and fellowship must result
not from arbitrary legislation, but from common sympathies
and mutual helpfulness. The military experience of Miles
Standish, the spiritual wisdom of Elder Brewster, the political
sagacity of Winslow, would be at the service of Gov. Bradford,,
not because Plymouth so enacted, but because they were
brothers all, of a common faith and purpose.

So with our forefathers at the mouth of the Connecticut
River. They had hardly settled down in Saybrook before
they felt the need of more elbow room. Perhaps this feeling
was intensified by the severe pinching which they received in
1636-7 ; during that winter (as your historian related this,
morning), the Pequots kept them practically besieged on the
Point, behind their palisade of twelve foot high tree trunks.
Our fathers had come to a large country, and they had large
ideas on the land question. It is not strange, therefore, that
they soon swarmed across the river ; and while Capt. Mason
and Pastor Fitch and other important personages founded the
church and town of Norwich, the Griswolds and other families
founded the town and church of Lyme. No doubt these people
over the river often came back at first to Saybrook to church —

— 107 —

for it was more than twenty-seven years after they organized
the town before they organized the church, although Moses
Noyes was their acting pastor throughout that period; and
an interesting token of love for the mother church is the silver
communion-cup presented to the Saybrook church by the
first Matthew Griswold, marked with his name, and still, I
believe, preserved.

So far as I am informed, there have always been harmonious
and friendly relations between the two churches. When Yale
College was organized, the pastor of the Lyme church, though
a Harvard graduate, gave his approval and assistance (he was
one of the trustees of the original Collegiate School), and, of
the ten pastors which the Lyme church has since had, eight
have been graduates of Yale College. (I hardly think the
mother church, herself, can have been more faithful to this
collegiate offspring.) When the Saybrook Platform was
adopted, the pastor of the Lyme church was present as a
delegate, and his brother, James Noyes, of Stonington, was
one of the moderators of the Synod. We can hardly claim
that we are at present giving conscientious adherence to all
the points of the Saybrook Platform, but if we have wandered
from it, it has been in sisterly companionship with the elder
church.

I was pleased to note recently on our church records, a
gratifying instance of fellowship which included the church at
Norwich as well as the churches at Saybrook and Lyme.
Under date of 1814, October 15, it is recorded that Dea. Robert
Ely, of Saybrook, and Sarah Fanning, of Norwich, were married
at Lyme by Rev. Lathrop Rockwell. There is still a parson-
age at Old Lyme, where any deacon or other good man from
Saybrook, who desires to strengthen the old ties by taking to
himself a wife from the good people of Norwich, will be
heartily welcome, and will be able to have the matrimonial
knot securely tied. I learn also from our church records that
there were formerly many weddings between Saybrook and
Lyme parties. These cannot have become infrequent of late
years on account of failure of material ; for we have still in
Old Lyme a fair supply of as lovely young ladies as can

— io8—

anywhere be found. In the future, as in the past, we hope to
be bound together by all the ties of fraternal fellowship. (The
graceful ornamentation of this church to-day is very suggest-
ive of weddings.)

We trust that the Old Lyme church will not be deemed
unworthy to stand with you to-day in this time of congratula-
tions and rejoicings. Emulous of your worthy example, we
have tried for more than two hundred years to hold forth the
word of life and to adapt it to the ever-varying needs of the
community. At the time of the great awakening of 1740,
when the Church of Christ in this new land was passing
through a critical period, when James Davenport made to
the Old Saybrook church the fierce \nsit so vividly described
in the excellent historical discourse of this morning, the pastor
of the church in Lyme was Rev. Jonathan Parsons, who did
an important work in the commonwealth as well as in the
town, and whose remains now lie buried side by side with
those of his friend Whitefield, in the church at Newburyport.

During the trying period of the French and Indian Wars
and the American Revolution, while Mr. Hart was performing
so faithful service here, the church in Lyme was served by
Rev. Stephen Johnson, a loved pastor of the church and a
valued inspirer and counselor of leaders in the American
Revolution. And when the War of the Rebellion tried men's
souls, the last of the life-long pastors of the Lyme church,
Rev. D. S. Brainerd, stood faithfully at his post and uttered
no uncertain sound. We think we can modestly, but grate-
fully, say of the Lyme pastors, as your historian says of
the Saybrook pastors, that they have all been men of God,
devoted to the work of the ministry. I presume it has always
been true, as it certainly is true to a very gratifying degree
to-day, that the pastor of each church is made welcome in the
pulpit of the other church, and is made to feel at home among
the people. There is an especially hearty and affectionate
fellowship between the churches in Old Saybrook and Old
Lyme ; and we gladly and gratefully acknowledge our indebt-
edness to you for help in the day of beginnings, and for sweet
counsel that we have taken together through the centuries.

— 109 —

One of the striking features of the church edifice in Old
Lyme, is the tall and graceful steeple, which is seen from so
many points, often unexpectedly, as one skims along the rail-
road, or climbs the hills, or sails the Sound, Hfting its white
finger, slender, but steady, toward the deep blue of the over-

. arching sky. It suggests the spire of Salisbury Cathedral,
that seems to float like a cloud, as one looks back to it over
intervening hills from Stonehenge, eight miles away. That
steeple is a true symbol of the great function of the Christian

■Church — a function which our churches have endeavored
unitedly to fulfill in the two centuries that are gone, and
-which they will no doubt continue to fulfill, and help each

•other to fulfill, amid all the changes of many centuries yet to

•come — to point to heaven and lead the way.

YALE UNIVERSITY,

1702.

TIMOTHY DWIGHT, D. D., PRESIDENT OF YALE UNIVERSITY.

The subject which has been assigned to me, and on which
T have been requested to say a i^v^ words in connection with
your anniversary services this afternoon, is " Yale University,
1702." The name of the institution, as thus given, and the
•date that is added to it, seem to place the speaker, as if at the
same moment, at the beginning and the end of a period of
nearly two centuries, and to suggest, as of necessity for the
matter of his speaking, either a historical narrative, or some-
thing of the nature of a vision and a contrast. For a his-
torical record the limit of the brief sixth portion of an hour,
which is all that you can offer me, is so insufficient as to
anake even the thought of it impossible. On the other hand.

— no —

the quite secondary character of the part which the institu-
tion, or myself as representing it, must have on an occasion
like this, when the deepest and all-absorbing interest of every
mind is resting upon the life and work of this ancient churchy
renders the attempt to present such a record equally inappro-
priate.

I can only turn my thought and yours, therefore, to what I
may call a vision and contrast, and do even this but for a few
moments. As I sit, day by day, in the room assigned to me
on the college grounds in New Haven for the discharge of
my ordinary duties, the eye of Abraham Pierson, the first
Rector or President, seems always to be looking in upon me.
Just outside of my window at a very little distance stands the
bronze statue which commemorates him. The face is turned
towards the window, and the worthy leader of the great com-
pany of these centuries, and saintly prophet and teacher of
the olden time, presents himself to my mind as if he were
watching the growth of the years and the work of the living
men. It sometimes becomes easy to believe that the statue
has received into itself the soul of him whom it represents,,
and that thus his very presence is near to us and among us.

If the soul be indeed there, I say to myself, what must be
its thoughts? The wonderful changes of these two hundred
years must, it would seem, have an impressiveness for hin»
even greater than they can have for us; for the memory of the
past is to him a living and personal remembrance as of yester-
day, and the sight of to-day is as clear as the reality of
present experience. I would that I might have such a vision^
for an hour — a vision thus gathering into itself the effort and
success, the struggle and joy of all the workers, and thus-
bringing together the first things and the last things in the
long historic development.

The wonderful changes suggest themselves in many lines,
of thought. But I can only offer a word which may connect.
itself with one of them and set you thinking for a few-
moments in movement along that one. In 1702, the college*
community consisted for an entire half year of the Rector and.
a single student. That student was Jacob Heminway, who-

— Ill —

■svas graduated in 1704, and who afterwards became the
lionored pastor of the church in East Haven, where he re-
Ttnained for forty-three years until his death, in 1754. I have
occasionallj^ tried to picture to myself the life of the President
•and the student as they passed those first six months together.
"They must have had much kindly and sweet communion as
they met in their relation as teacher and pupil, and as per-
•^hance they told each other of their thinking and their hoping
-when they had friendly converse in their leisure hours. If
the good President was a man after the likeness of his statue,
-it must have been a pleasant thing to talk with him. The
inspiration of his presence must have been, in itself, an edu-
cating influence. The youthful student also had, no doubt,
his part in the blessing of the fellowship, and did his work in
a manly way for the keeping of somewhat of the youthful
-spirit in his older friend. Those few months, we may well
''believe, were not without their results of good in the life of
the two men. The Collegiate School had a genuine scholarly
f-beginning in the meeting of their personalities.

We have grown, in two hundred years since then, out of
and far beyond the Collegiate School, and into a great
"University, which for our country has somewhat of the vener-
able character of age. The President of the institution has
-now about him and associated with him one hundred pro-
fessors and permanent instructors, and more than one hundred
■other teachers in all departments of learning and science.
The one student has become in the progress of time — if we
■may use the Old Testament expression — a troop or a multi-
tude. The personality of Jacob Heminway, as we may say,
liias multiplied itself into the twenty-four hundred and fifteen
young men who make up the University community in this
year, 1896. The brightest and most widely-unfolding vision
of the future which those two scholars, the younger and the
older, saw revealed before them in their most joyful hours of
anticipation, could not, in 1702, bring the reality to their
aninds. They could only speak of possibility and promise,
and encourage their hearts as they spoke. The better things
3)rovided of God for us they could not fully foresee. The

— 112 —

accomplishment of the promise they were not able to receive.^
But may not the soul of the old Rector, I say to myself in my
dream or vision of him — as it enters the statue and looks
through its eyes — see the whole realization to-day and findi
itself satisfied ?

It is but a dreaming thought of the observer who stands
before the bronze memorial, you may say. Be it so, it is a.
pleasant thought ; and somewhere in the unseen sphere,,
though not in the seen, the first teacher and his first pupiL
may, indeed, have the sight of what we behold, and may
know the blessing which has come to thousands of educated'
men from the school of the early days within whose doors
they taught and learned the lesson of life.

The good President finished his work and passed to his
reward only five years after that year, 1702. He saw but the
first beginnings and the time of smallest results. But how
calmly he seems to look forth now upon the scene of to-day,,
as if this were what was in his prayer and his hope ! Jacob
Heminway, on the other hand, lived for more than half a
century after that season when he was the only student of the
new Collegiate School, and he may well have seen, in his-
latest year, the rising walls of what is now our oldest college
building. This building thus seems to unite us with the
earliest days, in some real sense, through him, although in?
itself it belongs to the second half of the first century of the
college history and was antedated, by many years, by the
first college building erected in New Haven which had already-
been removed.

The uniting with the earliest days, thus mentioned, suggests:
the thought of the continuity of influence; and in my vision,,
if I may call it so, I cannot help picturing before ray mind
the old life of Rector Pierson and Jacob Heminway as pro-
longing and perpetuating itself in all the teachers and students
who have followed them. The happy spirit of brotherhood
which so strikingly and even proverbially has characterized
the membership of our University ; the friendly sentiment
which instructors have cherished towards pupils, and pupils
towards instructors ; the free interchange of thought on all

—US-
questions of highest interest, and the honest search for truth,,
with no fears of its safety and triumph ; these things and
others which mark the mind and spirit of our University are
surely not the growth of this year or this decade of years.
They have belonged to the institution as long as the oldest of
us can remember, and they reach, in the fullness of their
reality, far beyond our memory. Was not the beginning of
them contemporaneous with the earliest days of the life of the
Collegiate School? Was not the seed that was planted a seed
which carried within itself the forces for all the growth and
the fruitage ? And so I ask myself whether the origin of all
may not have been in those friendly meetings and talkings
of the President and his one student in 1702, when they
spoke with one another so freely and so lovingly about learn-
ing and truth and religion and man and God — both of them
believing in the light and trustful for the future. No wonder
that the eye looks forth from the bronzed memorial of the
President so calmly and benignantly, and that the old build-
ing has ever centered in itself, for the student life within it,
its measure of the influences which have come from the past,
and have wrought in the lives of successive generations for
the growth of true manhood.

Those old meetings of the Rector and the young man, which
were the first things in the college history if we think of the
true academic life, took place in the old town of Killingworth.
The College itself, however, in its legal and authorized exist-
ence as we may say, was not there. It was in this town, the
anniversary of whose ancient church is celebrated to-day.

The two towns were farther apart in those days than they
are in this era of steam and electricity, but they were even
then only separated by a moderate distance. The journey
from the one to the other was a comparatively easy one. If
it was longer in time as contrasted with the present possibil-
ities, there was opportunity for pleasant meditation for the
solitary traveler as he slowly moved along his way, or for
friendly and intelligent talk on interesting themes for the two
or three who might perchance have the fortune to go in
company. To these men of whom we have spoken the

—114—

country road must have been familiar, and as they went from
the pastor and rector's home to this home appointed for the
College, the plans and thoughts concerning its welfare must
have been prominent in their minds.

The worthy President certainly came hither for the great
season and service of the year as we should now call
it — the annual Commencement ; and I suppose that Jacob
Heminway, who had drawn to himself, if I may so express it»
two worthy classmates before the closing of his first college
year, received his degree of Bachelor of Arts here. We may
think of the four as they went to this for them most interest-
ing ceremony — the President no doubt rejoicing in his class of
three, as compared with only one of the previous year, which
one had passed through most of his course at Harvard and
had come to Killingworth at the end of Heminway's solitary
residence there as a student ; and the three young men, whose
graduation was to be for them the same happy entrance upon
manly life which graduation has been for all their successors
to this day and will be, doubtless, ever in the future, rejoicing
in the outlook before them. What inspiring words they must
have said to one another ! What a kindly benediction the
good President must have given to each !

I cannot but think also of the little company of the village
residents who may have assembled to see the parting of the
teacher and the students, and to rejoice with them both that
the College, towards which so many desires had turned, and
for which so many prayers had been offered, was now proving
itself to be a reality, and to have a promise of the coming
time. We of the later age may not fitly forget the old village,
or its early Commencement days, or the years when the
college life was bound to it or lived within it. The first
results and the first influences belonged to those days and to
this pleasant region, and the end, let us remember, comes not
without the beginninor.

The changes of history — how great they have been here
and everywhere — in our old Collegiate School, in New Eng-
land, and in the world, since 1702, and even yet more since
1646! You have heard from a v^enerated friend, whom you

—115—

and I alike honor for his useful and honorable life, of these
changes as illustrated in the history of this Church of Christ,
now two hundred and fifty years old. You have received
salutations from others among the ancient churches of the
surrounding country, and have had anew, as it were, some
part of their record in the suggestions brought to you by their
messengers. It has fallen to me, by your kindly invitation,
to bring you a greeting from the old Collegiate School — now
become a University — which was immediately related to your
village in the early time, but was permanently established in
New Haven in 17 16. With my greeting — which, for myself
and the University, is a hearty one, as I present it to you —
I have tried to give you a few thoughts in a kind of vision.
1 could wish that I might have been able, with something of
the power of the artist, to picture before you all that the vision
carries in itself for my own thought. But if I have succeeded
n bringing pleasantly before your minds, for the few moments
allowed me, the old Rector and his student in the days when
they alone were what we now call Yale University, and have
suggested to you somewhat of my dream, if I may call it
.such, of their life together, as having in itself the source and
force of the life of the great brotherhood that has followed, I
have done all that I hoped to do — and so, I wish your
Church all prosperity in the coming century.

— 1 16 —
THE CHURCH IN CENTERBROOK,

(ORGANIZED FROM THIS CHURCH IN 1725.)

BY DE;A. EDGAR W. GRISWOLD.

It is not always in good taste to boast of one's descent from:
'n illustrious ancestry. The world at large does not set a.
''^ery high estimate upon such a supposed honor, preferring to
^ke men at their present worth.

But I think we may be pardoned if, to-day, the third
daughter of this old Mother Church proudly boasts of her
relationship and of her descent from the same heroic and
godly men who two hundred and fifty years ago founded the
institution the birthday of which we now commemorate.

The withdrawal of the several churches which have from
time to time gone from this mother of churches, as well as
from this daughter of hers, has, not inaptly, been compared to
the swarming of bees from the parent hive. Whatever analo-
gies might be traced under this figure of speech, I propose
to speak of only one.

Bee-keepers know that however populous the colony or
propitious the season in other respects, bees do not swarm,
abandoning the wealth of the stores in the parent hive, except
when the honey-yielding flowers are abundant, so that they
may be sure that they can maintain themselves and grow
unto a strong and prosperous colony.

So we can imagine that when the dwellers of Pautapaug, in.
the north part of the parish of Saybrook, being moved by in-
pulses somewhat analagous to the swarming instinct, were
confronted with the question, " Can we sustain ourselves ?"
they met the question with many an animated discussion inr

—117—

their places of social gathering — some perhaps with doubt and'
misgivings — with a reliance upon the God who had sustained
their fathers, and with a confidence born of hopeful and
enthusiastic natures, which finally prevailed ; and the step-
was taken.

May lo, 1722, the Colonial Assembly, then sitting in
Hartford, granted to them the " liberty or privilege of being a
separate parish with all the rights and privileges enjoyed by
other parishes." Perhaps the most important of these privi-
leges was the right to tax all the taxable property of the
parish, to build a meeting-house, and to meet the expense of
maintaining the public worship of God.

The new parish organized themselves into a socfety in the
September following. The taxable estate of the parish
probably did not exceed $20,000. Heavy taxes were
necessary and proved burdensome and difficult to collect.
A meeting-house was commenced in 1724, but not finished
until 1730.

The Court-grant, creating the parish, also provided that if
the inhabitants of the north part of the parish called Pate-
quonck (now Chester) should be allowed by the Assembly to
become a separate parish, then the second parish of Say-
brook should pay back to Patequonck parish all the charges
which had been paid by them to help build the meeting-
house, and minister's house, in said parish. A movement
was commenced by Patequonck to withdraw in 1730, but
successfully opposed until 1740, when the General Assem-
bly granted their petition. Of course their withdrawal
weakened the old parish numerically and financially, and for
several subsequent years they seemed to have consider-
able difficulty in meeting the various expenses of the
parish. The minister's salary was sometimes two or three
years in arrears. In 1753 an unhappy controversy arose
between the parish and the minister on account of the inade-
quacy of his salary, caused by the depreciation of the
Colonial currency, consisting mostly of " public bills of
credit old tenor," so-called. They were cited to appear
before the General Assembly in New Haven, and were en-

— un-
joined by that body to pay up all arrears and to pay in future
^360 annually in the above currency.

They do not seem to have been able, or they were unwilling
to do it, and the minister finally commenced suit against them.
His death occurred soon after ; the matter was settled by
arbitration with his widow. This seems to have been a
period of discouragement, as in 1756, at a special meeting
of the parish, a committee was appointed to confer with a
committee to be appointed by Chester, with reference to con-
solidating the two parishes. The same matter came up in
1757; but there is no record of a report of the committee.

In this year (1757) a committee was appointed to " see
if the meeting-house was worth repairing," and extensive
repairs were made. The house was used until 1792, when
the present building was presented to the society, having
been built by a popular subscription by the inhabitants of the
parish. In 1790 the Episcopalians organized a society, draw-
ing largely from our membership ; and in 1805 ^^so a
Baptist society was organized.

Returning now more particularly to the early history of the
church ; religious services were held in private houses from the
first, but it does not appear that a church was organized until
the first pastor. Rev. Abraham Nott, was ordained in 1725.
Mr. Nott was a graduate of Yale College in 1720, and this
was his first and only settlement. It lasted thirty-one years.
His preaching and pastoral work appear to have been very
acceptable to the parish. Notwithstanding the controversy
alluded to between him and the society, there is nothing in
the records to show that there was any disaffection in regard
to his ministry. No records of the church during his minis-
try are in existence, having been burned, so that the member-
ship of the church at its organization is not known.

Mr. Nott died in 1756, and was succeeded in 1758 by the
Rev. Stephen Holmes, also a graduate of Yale, class of 1752.
His pastorate lasted fifteen years. The records kept by him
were very meager, and do not give the church membership at
any time. In addition to his ministerial labor, he also acted
.as a physician for his people. He died in 1773. The Rev.

— 119 —

Benjamin Dunning was installed in 1775. He records for the
first time the membership of the church, which he found
was sixty-five in number at the beginning of his minis-
try, and fourteen were received during its continuance for a
period of ten years. He died in 1785, and the next year the
Rev. Richard Ely, a native of Lyme, was installed. He was
a graduate of Yale in 1754, and came to our church from
North Bristol (now North Madison), where he had been
settled for twenty-eight years. During his ministry here, one
hundred and four were added to the church upon profession.
On account of his age, the Rev. Aaron Hovey was ordained
colleague pastor with him in 1804, and assumed the full
duties of the office almost immediately. Mr. Ely resigned
the next year and removed to Chester, where he died in 18 14.
Mr. Hovey was a graduate of Dartmouth. His settlement
with this church was the only one he ever made, and it
lasted for thirty-nine years. He was a minister of more than
ordinary ability, and during his ministry several extensive
revivals of religion occurred, notably in 1821 and 1827, when
ninety and seventy-one respectively were added to the church
upon profession of their faith. In all three hundred and
seventy were received into the church by him as the fruits of
his ministry.

At the time of his ordination, there were one hundred and
seven members in the church. At his death there were two
hundred members, notwithstanding the many withdrawals of
members to unite with other denominations, and the with-
drawal of over forty in 1834 to form our sister church in
Deep River. Mr. Hovey died in 1843.

Of the ministers and pastors that have held the office since
then, time will not allow me to speak. In 1852, sixty-two-
members withdrew to form the sister church at Essex, thus
making four swarms from this old hive.

While searching the records of the one hundred and
seventy-one years of the existence of this church, I seem to
have seen the generations of devout men and women who
have come upon the stage of its life, acting their part, serving
their day and generation, and passing away. Pastors have

— 120

come and gone, but the Church abides, and will abide, until
its mission is accomplished. And that mission, I believe, is
not merely the saving of a few souls of each generation.
Important as that is, it is of itself only incidental. Its real
mission is, to be the instrument of the ultimate realization of
the Divine ideal of a perfected humanity, sung of by the
poets of all ages as " The Golden Age," but called by our
Savior " The Kingdom of Heaven " upon the earth.

THE FIRST CHURCH, WESTBROOK.

(ORGANIZED FROM THIS CHURCH IN 1726.)

BY REV. GURDON F. BAILEY, PASTOR.

Note. — The writer of this paper would acknowledge indebtedness to Mrs. C.
^C. Champlin for assistance in securing materials.

The youngest child, who has just past her one hundred and
seventieth birthday, brings greetings to her honored mother.
Westbrook, formerly called West Saybrook and originally
known as Pochaug, was once the south-western portion
of the town of Saybrook. As early as 1664, some of the un-
easy ones (and as we like to think some of the enterprising
citizens of the town) pushed westward and inhabited that
portion now called Westbrook. Their church home was
here at Saybrook, and for more than sixty years, through the
heat of summer and the snow of winter, with foot-stove and
Bible, they code from four to ten miles to worship God, and
after two sermons, with lunch intervening, retraced the same
distance. The families there increased in size and in number,
until, in 1724, there were thirty-eight families and a popula-
^tion of about two hundred and twenty-five souls. Annoyed
by the inconvenience, and wearied with the labor incurred by
ihe long distance from the place of worship, the inhabitants

— 121 —

-concluded to separate from the mother church, and establish
-a place of worship in their own midst. Accordingly, they
requested a public meeting of the people in the eastern and
western sections to consider the matter The following was
the action taken at that meeting :

" Savbrook, the 13TH OF April, 1724.
" Whereas, the western part of this society have desired a meeting of the whole
society to consider their proposal relating to their applying themselves to the Gen-
eral Court of this Government for the privileges of a distinct society ; it is agreed
and voted by this society that the western part of this society (with liberty of
the General Court) may, without opposition from us, be formed into a distinct
society ; provided they be obliged by the act of the General Assembly to pay
their portion of charges with us in maintaining the minister in this society that
now is, during the time they are destitute of a minister among themselves." * *

" The above was agreed to by the eastern and western
inhabitants without a dissenting voice." The next step
towards independence was to obtain permission from the
General Court to become a distinct society. Just thirty days
after the Saybrook meeting, a petition was presented in the
General Assembly at Hartford. The substance of that peti-
tion is as follows :

" To the Honorable General Assembly now sitting at Hartford, in His Majesty's
Colony of Connecticut in New England, on the 13th day of May, in the
tenth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord, George of Great Britain, King ;
Annoque Domini 1724 — Greeting :
" The memorial of the western inhabitants of the South Society in Say-
brook humbly showeth (viz.), that whereas we, having for a long time
laboured under very great and uncommon difficulties and hardships with
respect to our attending upon the publick worship of God by reason of
our great distance from the place thereof, and having made it appear to
the satisfaction of our brethren and neighbours of the eastern part of said
society," * * * * * "do humbly request the Honorable Assembly
to confer upon and establish to us the powers and privileges common to a
distinct society." Be assured that " we do not expect nor desire ever to be
freed from doing duty for the maintaining and promoting of the Kingdom of
Christ and the interests of religion in the world." " Gentlemen, may this
petition find so much acceptance with you as not only to be read but also con-
sidered and granted. And the authors shall count it a favour from yourselves
and a mercy from the Lord."

" At a meeting of the inhabitants of the South Society in Saybrook, May 13,
1724," and signed by Samuel Chapman, James Post and William Stannard,
-Committee.

— 122 —

The petition was granted by the General Assembly on the
following day, and two weeks later, May 28, 1724, the first
Ecclesiastical Society of West Saybrook was formed, with
Capt. Samuel Chapman moderator. The taxable property in
the society at that time amounted to ^^2,384 4s. The
brethren proceeded at once to business. A committee was
appointed to secure a minister. By August the committee
succeeded in obtaining the service of Rev. William Worthing-
ton at " ;^50 per year and the society find him his wood." In
December they voted to build a house for the minister, " he
glassing the house and finding the nails."

The following spring they levied a tax upon all property-
owners to defray the expenses of the society. The most
serious question at issue seemed to be one of finance. Beside
current expenses and building a parsonage, they very much
needed a house of worship. Help was sought from the
General Court. In a very elaborate petition they asked the
Court to exempt them from paying colony tax for three or
four years. The request was denied by both houses. In
October of the same year they renewed the appeal and again
were denied. A year later one more petition was sent which
met the fate of its predecessors. In the mean time the people
were not idle.

In October, 1725, the General Court gave them permission
to form a church and to settle an orthodox minister, with the
consent of the neighboring churches. June 29, 1726, the
church was organized with six men and eight women ; and
from that day on. Ecclesiastical Society and Church have
labored together as husband and wife. The problem of
erecting a house of worship engaged the attention of the
Ecclesiastical Society early in 1726. In January of that year
they voted " to proceed to the building of a meeting-house
for God's publick worship," the dimensions to be 40 feet long,
32 feet wide and 18 feet posts. The building of the house
was done on the installment plan, and required no end of
committees.

On December 25, 1727, a committee was chosen to "secure
sleepers and underpinning." The following May, power was

— 123—

given this committee " to fix down the sleepers." At this
meeting another committee was chosen for procuring glass
and lead. In August of that year it was thought necessary,
for a more comfortable attendance on divine service, that the
house be ceiled up to the first tier of windows, and a commit-
tee was chosen to that end. Others were delegated to hang
the doors. The following February they arranged for the
plastering. One year later (1730) the pulpit and lower seats
were built. After another year had passed, the building of
the pulpit stairs was left with some " meet and suitable
persons."

Two years more and a cushion was provided for the pulpit.
June, 1733, they voted to " finish up the plastering, make
wooden steps to the doors and procure suitable tackling for
the doors." Five years later they voted to finish the gal-
leries. The work on the meeting-house rested here from
1738 to 1763, when they voted to " cover the south side and
the two ends with sawed white oak clapboards and glass it
with sash glass, to make window frames of white oak and sash
of white pine "; and " to paint the clapboards sky colour, and
the doors and sash white."

In 1794 they replaced the square seats with pews. In
1795, sixty-eight years after the building was raised, a steeple
was built on the west end. Soon after, a bell and a clock,
and even a spire, were added ; and by this time repairs were
needed on the part first built. The construction of this first
meeting-house shows the courage and sacrifice of those early-
inhabitants. This house stood until 1828, when it was taken
down and a second built on the same site. In i860 the'
second house was removed to give place to a third. This
later one underwent some changes, and had, but a few
months, been refurnished when it took fire on Christmas
night 1892, and burned to the ground. The fourth and
present church building, costing $i8,cx)0, was dedicated May
9, 1894. The houses have all stood on the same site.

The patience and discipline required for the erection of the
first church building was perhaps necessary as an example
and encouragement to those who came afterwards, inasmuch.

— 124 —

as a new church edifice seemed to be required with, each
succeeding generation. The church has been served by fifteen
regularly employed servants of God. Rev. William Worthing-
ton, a native of Colchester, a graduate of Yale, class of 17 16,
and afterward grandfather of John Cotton Smith, Governor of
Connecticut, was the first minister. He was installed pastor
June 29, 1726, the day the church was organized. He
labored faithfully for thirty-two years, and was laid at rest in
the old burying lot west of the church. His successor was
Rev. John Devotion, a native of Connecticut, and graduate of
Yale in the class of 1754, whose pastorate covered a period of
forty-five years.

The church was organized with fourteen members — six
men and eight women. Their names are as follows : Samuel
Chapman, Abraham Post, James Post, Jared Spencer, Thomas
Spencer, John Post, Margaret Chapman, Lydia Grenil, Sarah
Spencer, Elizabeth Spencer, Mary Lay, Mary Denison, Sarah
Brooker, Mary Waterhouse.

It is not difficult to trace the current of English blood in
these original members. Samuel Chapman was the grandson
of Robert Chapman, the settler, and son of Robert Chapman,
Jr., one of the delegates to the assembly which draughted the
Saybrook Platform. Four of his descendants have been suc-
cessively deacons in the church.

Abraham Post was grandson of Stephen Post, the settler.
He with his brother James and son John were three of the
original members.

Lydia Grenil, wife of Daniel Grenil, was the daughter of
William Peabody and Betty Alden, and granddaughter of
John Alden and Priscilla, who sailed in the Mayflower. There
are to-day in the church direct descendants from John Alden
in the tenth and eleventh generations.

About fifteen hundred people have been enrolled in the
membership of the church since its organization. The church
is proud of her mother, proud of her noble ancestry ; and
hopes to retain, for years to come, enough of the Puritan
spirit to keep her pure, and a good supply of the Pilgrim
spirit to keep her generous-hearted and sweet-tempered.

— 125 —

MINISTRIES

— OF —

REV. WILLIAM HART.

— AND —

REV. FREDERICK W. HOTCHKISS.

BY JAMES R. SHEFFIELD, OF NEW YORK CITY.

Note. — Mr. James R. Sheffield is a great-great-grandson of the Rev. William
Hart, and great-grandson of Rev. Frederick William Hotchkiss. The combined
pastorates of these two distinguished men occupy a period of one hundred and
eight years — 1736-1844.

I am indebted for the privilege of being here to-day to two
circumstances. One, the courtesy of Dr. Chesebrough and
your Committee, and the other, that I was wise enough to
provide myself with a great-grandfather and a great-great-
grandfather, and to have seen to it that they studied for the
ministry and settled right here in Old Saybrook over the
First Church of Christ. Of the good judgment of Dr.
Chesebrough and the Committee in asking me here, there
may well be some doubt in your minds ; but of my good
judgment over two centuries ago in the choice of grand-
parents, six generations of God-fearing and God-serving
people might well attest.

For one hundred and eight consecutive years these two
giants of the faith served this church and this community, —
an instance rare in history, and unique, so far as I know, in
America ; and though the Recording Angel long ago com-
pleted the record of their earthly lives, the record of their
work and influence is still being written in the history not
only of Saybrook, but of Church and State wherever New
England character is honored throughout this land.

— 126 —

It would be impossible in the short time allotted to me to
attempt any adequate description of the men or their relations
to this community. Their combined ministries were in large
measure the history of Saybrook for over a hundred years,
and the Muse of History, as she writes the story of this old
town, will never fail to see across the page the faces of
William Hart and Frederick Hotchkiss.

As I have said, these two ministers served this church for
an unbroken period of one hundred and eight years — Mr.
Hart from 1736 to 1784 and Mr, Hotchkiss from 1782 to
1844. And my being here to-day, as the descendant of both,
is due to the fact that Mr. Hotchkiss wedded himself not
only to the church and to the people of Mr. Hart, but also to
the very family of Mr. Hart by marrying his daughter.

They were both of them remarkable men. Broad in
scholarship, learned in doctrine, high in principle, generous
in faith ; Puritans of the Puritans, the product of their time
and the flower of their class. And yet while treading for a
hundred years the same wine-press in God's vineyard, each
stood in wide contrast to the other. They lived in different
periods of the world's history, and each seemed exactly fitted
to the time in which he lived. Of them, more truly than of
most men, could it be said that no man is born out of time.
They proved that the golden age for every man is not yester-
day or to-morrow, but to-day. It is the age in which each
man lives ; not the age in which somebody else lived. And
so it was of them.

The one lived in the stormiest period of Connecticut's his-
tory ; the other in her most peaceful days ; and each fitted
exactly the temper of the times. Mr. Hart was essentially a
man of active, aggressive mind and temperament. Of the
forty-eight years covered by his ministry, twenty-one years
were years of war. For thirteen years that old French despot,
Louis XIV, reaching out for the possession of Canada and
the Northern American colonies, was striving to divert atten-
tion from his own misdeeds at home ; and for eight years
more were fought the battles of Independence, in which
Connecticut herself was often the battlefield of the Revolu-

— 127 —

tion. Even the churches were at war. A new theory of
religious doctrine had sprung up in the great awakening of
Edwards and Whitefield, and also in the theological system
of Hopkins, whose preaching and teaching threw a kind of
religious dynamite into the old doctrines of the church. Mr.
Hart was pre-eminently a man for these times. He was of
the old school of faith as well as of manners, a Calvinist and
a controversialist, who threw himself into all of the struggles
of the day with true Puritan spirit. He also put his faith into
practice by a devout patriotism that sent three of his sons to
fight for independence in the Revolution. He was a strenu-
ous advocate and supporter of Congregationalism of the
stricter type, but with it all retained to the last day of his
ministry the united respect and affection of his people.

Mr. Hotchkiss, on the other hand, was a man of different
temperament. He was intensely practical in his theology ;
and although strict in his principles, he was broad and
generous in his faith and doctrine. Entering upon his
ministry just as the storm in the civil and theological world
was subsiding into a calm, he found his people longing for
rest, and he fully sympathized with their desires. Not lack-
ing in courage or patriotism, he yet entered into no contro-
versy and settled down into his sphere of pastoral work in a
spirit of almost cloistered devotion.

A diary of a trip which he took through New England in
the early days of this century, shows how sincerely he depre-
cated all theological agitation, and is interesting as a record
of the morals and manners of the clergy of that day. He
was a moderate Calvinist, and did not believe nor teach that
souls are to be saved by doctrine alone. A wonderful power
of imagination, united to a voice splendidly equipped for
public speaking, made his preaching remarkable even to the
last. His personal qualities endeared him to his people, and
through his long ministry of sixty-two years he bore himself
with a gentle, kindly courtesy that commanded respect and
engendered love.

Unlike as these two men were in temperament, there was a
similarity in their aim that made one the complement of the

— 128—

other. In a new community it was as essential to the growths
of the church in spiritual things, as it was to the people in
material things, that its beginnings should be aggressive.
The Church was the cameo of the State ; the State the intag-
lio of the Church, But as time went on, it becamd still more
essential to the proper development of both the spiritual and.
material life, that it should grow from war and controversy
into peace ; that the people should have time to practice the
rugged virtues that had been taught ; that the powers trained
in the church, the common school and the town meeting
should have opportunity to found a State ; that men and'
women might learn that doctrine and dogma were not meant
simply for the life to come, but were intended to assist in>
living the life that now was theirs ; and, finally, that faith was
for everyday use, and just as essential to success in this-
world as it was to happiness in the next.

It was an extraordinary opportunity that was given to-
these two men, and splendidly was it used. No words can
adequately express what the influence of their lives andi
teachings was. It was the Puritan strength, at first, but
" changed with changing time, adding sweetness to strength
and a broader humanity to moral conviction."

Near one of the entrances to Central Park, on a gently
sloping eminence, stands the bronze statue of the Pilgrim.
Of heroic size, dressed in the severe garb of his sect, one arm
resting on the muzzle of his old flint-lock and looking into
the distant west with earnest searching gaze, he stands the
very embodiment, in bronze, of the Puritan spirit. As one
looks upon that splendid statue, the harsh lines of the metal
seem to fade away, and he sees, not the embodiment of the
Puritan spirit in bronze, but the real Puritan himself as he
stood guarding the liberties of his conscience and his race,
and who, for over two centuries, was the masterforce in
American civilization. He was the soldier of a free church,
the builder of a free state, and his spirit, like his influence, is
still marching on into the furthermost corners of the earth..
And as we look at him, we are reminded that his inspiration
came from the influence of the lives and the teachings of men.

— 129 —

"like Hart and Hotchkiss. It \\2A from such men that he de-
rived his notions of Church and State, and it was to them
that he paid his homage of respect and obedience.

As we in turn pay our homage to the Puritan spirit, let us
not forget the debt that we owe, as well as that Puritan of
old, to those two teachers and divines who, for over one
hundred years, led these people here in Old Saybrook as the
children of Israel were led through the wilderness to the prom-
ised land of liberty and freedom. And remembering this, we
should not forget that we, too, as sons of the Puritans, should
stand as they did for ideas and convictions, for liberty and
righteousness, by holding the same relation to our age that
they held to theirs. No Church remains free; no State
remains free, except it be through the untiring efforts and
devotion of its members. And because of what we have
inherited and because we stand here as sons of the Puritans,
we owe a far deeper duty to stand in the same relation to our
age that they did to theirs. And when another hundred
years have passed, and the political and moral ideals of to-
day have become the commonplace of to-morrow, may those
future generations have preserved for them through our
efforts, as we have had preserved for us through the efforts
of those who have gone before, a free Church, a free State

-and a free People.

— 130—

+
REV. W. D. SEXTON'S LETTER.

Note. — The Rev. Wilson D. Sexton, the sole surviving ex-pastor of the
Church (and now the pastor of a Presbyterian Church in Detroit, Mich.), being
unable to be present, sent this letter of greeting, which was read :

213 Field Avenue, Detroit, Mich., June 10, 1896,
To the First Congregational Church of Old Saybrook :

My Dear Friends — Through Dr. Chesebrough, I have
received a most cordial invitation from your committee to
attend the services in connection with the two hundred and
fiftieth anniversary of your church. If I could follow the
impulses of my heart, I should accept most gladly an invita-
tion so kind and gracious. Nothing would give me greater
pleasure than to be present and join with you in these com-
memorative services ; but other duties press on me to the
exclusion of that privilege.

In this way, however, I desire to send to you my loving
greeting and sincere congratulations. I rejoice in your noble
history, your conspicuous place in the ecclesiastical history of
New EngUnd, and in your steadfast adherence to the faith of
the Gospel. I feel the impressiveness of my relation to you
and to this occasion all the more deeply when I recall the
fact that I am the only surviving ex -pastor. All the other
brethren, whose faithful service and example as your pastors
were a constant inspiration, have gone to their reward. " They
rest from their labors and their works do follow them."

I recall with happy appreciation the years of our residence
in Old Saybrook. The cordial way in which you received us
to your hearts and your homes ; the manifold kindnesses, the
gentle patience, the loving appreciation are still bright in our
memory. How precious the memory of those who have been
called to the presence of the Master! I need not call the roll.

— 131—

Their vacant places in your homes and the sanctuary impress
you more deeply than any words of mine. I assure you that
I shall never forget the dear old church where I spent the
first years of my ministry. Its people were engraven on my
heart as none other has ever been. May the sweet memories
of the past and the blessed hope of the future so blend in this
your anniversary that it may be a happy halting place on
your way to the sanctuary that never grows old, the " house
not made with hands eternal in the heavens."

Yours in Christian love and fellowship,

W. D. SEXTON.

*

■132—

HYMN.

BY MRS. F. T. BRADLEY.

Tune — Federal Street.

Great God, how humble should we be !

This holy day we celebrate,

The ages we commemorate,
Alike a moment are with Thee.

Yet Thy peculiar care we claim —

A Bethel in a wilderness

This church our fathers raised, to bless
The God who called them by His name.

Now, as of old. Thy Spirit send
To consecrate this crowning hour —
And may a Pentecostal power

Our lives to f ''er service bend.

Rock of our Strength in w^eary land !

Our fathers' Inspiration ! still

Pr tect and animate until
All laen, confessing Thee, .shall stand.

tj^

FEB 10 193'